Page 4117 - Week 14 - Thursday, 25 October 1990
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responding in haste to the particular circumstances of his announcement rather than to the way in which that might be achieved within the timeframe allowed. (Extension of time granted)
His statement apparently went beyond the public service. In answer to a question he said:
The Government is examining options in consultation with the ACT Council of Social Service for an improved crisis service, and have announced this morning that we would be dealing with that as soon as possible in recognition of Schizophrenia Week".
The second reason why I think Mr Berry was basically speaking off the top of his head is that the copy of the ministerial statement lodged with the Secretariat did not contain the paragraph making the announcement. Mr Berry, quite clearly, was shooting from the hip, which is why so much of what he is supposed to have been planning to do since that time is mired in doubt and ambiguity. It is entirely fair to say that much of what he announced he was going to do was no more than the creature of Mr Berry's mind rather than the intention of the Government as a whole.
Mr Kaine: It could even be a figment of the imagination.
MR HUMPHRIES: At any rate, seven months later absolutely nothing had been achieved. He has a very fertile imagination, I suspect, and that imagination was working overtime on the mental health crisis service. The fact is that seven months later he had not done anything. He had failed to come up with the goods. He did announce in July that $150,000 had been allocated to fund the crisis centre. He claimed afterwards, incidentally, that this was all dependent on the budget passing, and therefore he had not done anything more until the budget passed. Well, that remains to be seen. This Government has done things without having to wait for that process to begin, and I think he could have done so on the same basis.
The convenor of the mental health task force, Ms Libby Steeper, pointed out, however, on 5 February in the Canberra Times, that this sum - the sum of $150,000 Mr Berry had committed - was insufficient to cover the centre's costs. In other words, the promise Mr Berry had made did not come up to scratch. The money was not enough. It was pie in the sky. The contrast, I think, is stark. This wet-behind-the-ears Minister, as he then was, came into government and thought he was going to make some big decisions. He was going to be the big spender. However, he got in too deep. He made his promises and he could not live up to them, quite frankly.
Mr Duby: He is just entering now.
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