Page 3347 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 September 1990
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totally wrong when you say that our policies and this Government are universally rejected by the community. That is not so; but I understand, Mr Connolly, that your heart is in the right place and I thank you very much for that.
I know that the Labor Party jumped with glee on my response in connection with some land for the Canberra Girls Grammar, and its members have now attempted to link that in some way with the program of consolidation and rationalisation in the public school system. There is absolutely no relationship between the two things. I know that the Opposition will grasp at any straw, no matter how weak, no matter how wet, no matter how damp; but there is no relationship between the two things. When the decision is made by the Government in connection with the piece of land for the Canberra Girls Grammar, it will be found to be quite consistent with the policies of the Labor Government at the Federal level and the local level for the last eight years. It will be absolutely consistent, Mr Wood, with your policy when you were in government, and with the policies of the Labor Government for the preceding seven years before that. This Government has made no change whatsoever in the policy in connection with this matter. You can put out your propaganda, you can appeal to your electorate, and you can tell them that we have done something wrong; but it is directly consistent with what your Government did last year and what the Federal Labor Government did for the preceding seven years. So, have your moment, put out your propaganda; but it will be proven yet again that this will be a boomerang.
I come now, Mr Speaker, to Mrs Grassby. Now, Mrs Grassby and I are good friends, and when we are not on the floor of the house we do not shout at each other or fight or anything else. I was most interested in what Mrs Grassby had to say, but there are a couple of places where I have to put some things in perspective. Mrs Grassby talked about the actions of this Government, as did her contemporaries over there, and, in her view, we are destroying public housing in Canberra.
Let us look at the facts. In 1988-89 there were 331 public housing units completed in Canberra. You can talk about the dollars and cents, but we are looking at housing completions, and there were 331 in 1988-89. Last year, under the Labor regime, the local one, there were 335. This year - - -
Mrs Grassby: Not bad for six months.
MR KAINE: No, that was the total year. We finished it off for you, Ellnor. You started it off; we finished it. We are good finishers over here. This year 275 new units - houses, flats and the like - will be completed and 65 houses will be totally refurbished. That is a total of 340. The other fact is that - - -
Mr Wood: What were the refurbishments last year?
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