Page 3008 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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and that these Bills have not been accorded appropriate priority.
These are the sorts of things that you are denying: further delays in the implementation of these amendments have important public health implications, Minister for Health. There is denial of public access to a number of safe and effective drugs which have been moved from prescription to non-prescription status in other States. One example is non-sedating antihistamine, which is indicated for the relief of hay fever, at a time of the year when the Canberra population suffers most.
This is about proving work value, Minister. You do not seem to understand that. You have to prove that you are worth the money, that you are worth the position and that you need the positions. You have not proved it, and it looks as though you do not even intend to try because, try as you might, on the basis of your performance in the past, you could not. There is not an arbitrator who would give you a rise; there is not an arbitrator who would give you extra help because you have collapsed in a heap.
What I have seen most of, which might demonstrate that there is some stress on Ministers, is Mr Collaery wandering around with a long face and mumbling, "It is all too hard". That does not constitute a work value case either.
These members opposite, in the backroom, stitched up a deal for extra Ministers long before they had even tested the water. They all wanted to get their snouts in the trough because some of them had to be bought off. This was the big buy-off. If Bernard Collaery wanted to find his way to the top, he had to have extra Ministers; he had to have more control and more power. Because of that, we are going to be lumbered with the likes of Mr Jensen as a Minister. That is what is going to happen.
The difficulty for the people of Canberra is that they sit back each night waiting for more information to come through to them, via the television, about the dismal behaviour of this Government. Some, I think, live in hope that they will hear no more of it, but most are disappointed because day after day they hear about the dismal performance and mistakes and the tragic results of its actions in relation to services in the ACT, particularly health and education. Now I expect they will be saying, "Heavens, we are going to have two more to help them do all this. Does that mean there is going to be more damage to the Territory?".
Mr Speaker, as I said when I started this speech, I smell bacon. This is clearly about snouts in the trough, and the delivery of any promises is about as likely as pigs flying overhead.
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