Page 4363 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
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Let us get on with the matter. We are wasting time in this place, as always. The Government does not want to get on with private members' business. Let us vote on this matter and get on with the other important schools issues that are before the chamber. If we are going to waste private members' business time, we will ask for more time.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (11.03): Mr Speaker, it is interesting to see the hysteria that comes out from the people opposite when they are on the losing end of something. They do not even listen to what is said. Mr Connolly, I gave you more credit. I thought that you listened intently to what people said during the debate, but you just demonstrated that you did not for one second listen to what Mr Jensen said. I am quite astounded that the Opposition takes this view and I was fascinated to hear Mr Berry once again. He has this lexicon of words such as "posturing", "duplicity", "politicising", "delay"; all of which Mr Berry is a past master at. He postures, he is duplicitous and he delays, and if anybody is politicising any committee it is Mr Berry. He is guilty of every one of the charges that he throws around, hoping that they will stick on somebody else. The fact is that they are starting to stick on you. I would suggest that you use a few different words in the future.
He says that the Assembly should accept the first legal advice. Well, Mr Berry rejected the first legal advice - that came from the Government Solicitor's Office. He did not like that, so he went and got another one. Now he is saying that the Assembly should accept the first legal advice, and he is dead right. The Assembly should accept the first legal advice, but he rejects it himself. That is why we had to go and get a second legal opinion.
Then we come to the second legal opinion. He says that the Government has rejected the committee's recommendation. The Government has not rejected anything. We had a verbal interim report only half an hour ago. How could the Government reject any such recommendation? But it is not the Government that has rejected that. It is Mr Berry again that has rejected it.
Mr Berry: It is a waste of time. Are you going to go to the Feds or aren't you?
MR KAINE: It is a waste of time, because you think it is a waste of time.
Mr Berry: Delaying; that word again - a delaying tactic.
MR KAINE: You are delaying, because if you had accepted the first legal opinion the matter would have been resolved by now. But you would not accept that. Mr Gumshoe gets on his feet again and away we go on more delaying tactics - and then he tries to smear the other members of the Assembly, trying to make them wear the label of what he himself is doing. He can use the words, but nobody is
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