Page 3353 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 September 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
scrutiny of the budget would reflect badly on the Government, as has the debate in relation to the Appropriation Bill. It has put the Government in a bad light.
Of course, the Government members opposite are a bit tetchy about this because they have grown quite used to bullying issues through committees and they would seek to do that in relation to this one. The fact of the matter is that the committee in the Chief Minister's proposal is to consist of five members. One would suspect that most of those would be their own - - -
Ms Follett: They could not speak on the budget but now they want to.
MR BERRY: Yes, they are like a bunch of chooks on the fence. They are not game to come over; all they want to do is sit there and cackle.
Mr Kaine: You sound like feeding time at the zoo, mostly.
MR BERRY: The chief gorilla over there is being critical of the Opposition, but the fact of the matter is that the Opposition has just exposed that the result in terms of the establishment of this Estimates Committee was pretty much along the lines that he, himself, suggested and now denies for the Opposition in 1990.
Mr Speaker, the Labor Opposition is strongly opposed to the Estimates Committee proposal which has been put forward by the Chief Minister and the Government. I have circulated an amendment which I intend to move at the conclusion of my speech on this matter. I know that the Government has had possession of this amendment because I circulated it earlier. I had expected that its members might have contacted me to let me know their position in relation to the amendment, but they have not done so at this point. That is regrettable, and it seems a shame that we have to find out what their position is after I move the amendment.
Mr Kaine: How are you going to find out before you move it? Put it on the table and we will debate it.
MR BERRY: The matter has been in your hands since last week because I put it there myself, as you might recall.
Mr Kaine: You have not been up to discuss my motion with me either, and my motion was first.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Chief Minister!
MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, the Chief Minister complains that we were not up there to discuss his motion with him. I am not sure that we would have got an appointment with him, because I do not think I am in his good books at the best of times.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .