Page 4525 - Week 15 - Thursday, 22 November 1990
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The Bill was prepared and presented in this house some weeks ago. The figure, of course, is being revised as circumstances have changed, particularly in light of the Government's decision earlier this week. It is obvious that that figure will not represent the figure that the Government ultimately plans to spend on education.
However, those opposite, while rather unfairly criticising this fact, do not suggest any solution to the problem. It is not our fault.
Mr Wood: Give us an amendment.
MR HUMPHRIES: What are we supposed to do? First of all, Mr Wood says that we should have an amendment. Having an amendment assumes that it is possible to identify alternative savings measures instantly from events that have occurred in the course of the last few days. Mr Wood, for the last few months, has been most critical in this debate of the Government making decisions in haste. It is not possible to make adjustments amounting, perhaps, to a million dollars in the education budget just like that. You simply cannot do it. None of you would have done so in government, and you should not expect us to do so either. It is just not responsible. The alternative, I suppose, that they would put forward is not to make any school closures. I have to tell you that if we did not close any schools at all the figure would have to be revised even more dramatically than it is going to be. It would have to be, because you are not going to close as many schools and, therefore, you are not going to make as large a saving as Hudson indicates. Therefore, logically, you cannot rely on the same figure.
Mr Kaine: You would have to find $2.4m then.
MR HUMPHRIES: Exactly. You would have to find $2.4m. What the Opposition is saying is not logical. It is this pie in the sky fantasy that all those people opposite seem to indulge in, and an indication - - -
Mr Kaine: It is their cargo cult culture, you see; that the money just appears.
MR HUMPHRIES: Cargo cult, perhaps, but an indication of the kind of fantasy world they live in, and the kind of luxurious attitude that one develops in opposition of being able to say, "The Government should do this; the Government should do that", but not - - -
Mr Kaine: They had it when they were in government. It was just the same then.
MR HUMPHRIES: The Chief Minister corrects me. Of course, this fantasy world was not unknown to them when in government, which is quite true. None the less, there really are not any options open to the Government. We either, in haste, prepare alternative savings measures
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