Page 4261 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 20 November 1990
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MR BERRY: I am glad that the Leader of the Opposition - I should say, I am glad that Mr Kaine has risen to the bait, because he will truly end up in the Opposition, where he deserves to be, according to Mr Duby. We long remember the speech of Mr Duby, where he said that he would vote for the Chief Minister as Leader of the Opposition, because that is what he deserved. And what about this Government that squawks about what happened in the past, dwells in the past, and talks about what happened before self-government came into existence in the Territory? Where were they when the people of Cook and Hackett asked for their guarantee of five more years? They were not to be found.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the Minister for Education has pushed expedient inaccuracies in this place on a number of issues. The first one which I mentioned, as I started out on this debate, was, of course, in relation to satisfaction levels. But the greatest inaccuracy he has tried to peddle in this place has been on the issue of consultation. This Minister crows about the levels of consultation. It is another expedient inaccuracy, because he said to the people of the ACT that there would be no consultation except on the criteria for those closures. Let us put that to rest. These sorts of expedient inaccuracies bring nothing but concern about the future of the Assembly and, of course, concern about its credibility. It is because of the performances of the Ministers opposite that that happens.
Mr Collaery will dwell on the past again and again, clawing for something on which to base an argument about the school closures. But what mostly burns him up is that the Labor Party in this Assembly is spotlessly clean on education because the Labor Party members were elected to this place on the basis that they would close no schools in the first term and that they would involve the community in any further discussions. This rabble opposite claims that it is a group that supports consultation, but where were its members when the pressure was put on them to consult? They disappeared.
Today we have had the third final decision of this Government on schools. What sort of unrest do you think that causes in the community, in particular in the schools community? It throws it into chaos - and this Minister, the Minister for Education, talks about satisfaction levels. How can you govern a territory with that sort of decision making process? No wonder the Chief Minister threatens to resign from time to time, because he, too, would have had enough of it, I suspect, based on the performance of some of the Ministers opposite.
Today, Mr Deputy Speaker, we have had the big sacrifice to keep the Residents Rally party in government. It is the big sacrifice. Cook, Hackett, Holder and Lyons schools should have a sign on the front of them saying, "The sacrifice for the survival of the Residents Rally in government". That is what has happened and they will be
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