Page 4963 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 11 December 1990
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They are the sorts of things which are most important for the people of the ACT. If a government does not make a commitment to the provision of those community services, then it sadly lacks in the delivery of services to the people of the ACT. This Government has demonstrated that it does not have a strong commitment to the delivery of services to the people of the ACT. Since it has been in office, it has set about the process of reducing services to the community. It has done so in the case of the schools where, with three different formulas, it has set out to reduce the services provided to the community. It has done so with the hospital system, where it has set out - - -
MR SPEAKER: Order! Relevance, Mr Berry, please.
MR BERRY: The fact of the matter is that it is entirely relevant because the issue before us is Territory owned corporations and whether or not those corporations will continue to deliver very important - - -
Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: there is no way that the hospital is a Territory owned corporation. It is totally irrelevant.
MR BERRY: If the Chief Minister had been paying close attention, he would have noticed that I had not said that the hospitals were a Territory owned corporation. What I was talking about was the lack of commitment by the Government to the delivery of services to the community. By way of an example, I quite rightly pointed to the cutbacks in hospital services implemented by the Minister for Health as a measure of the lack of commitment by the Government to the delivery of community services - - -
Mr Kaine: Totally irrelevant, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR BERRY: And well might you get touchy about that, Chief Minister. I would be embarrassed about it too.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Kaine: I am not the slightest bit embarrassed, but I wish you would stick to the point.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR BERRY: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Chief Minister, of course, is, as I have said, rightly touchy about the issue of cutbacks to community services. That is what we are concerned about with this Government's philosophical position in relation to Territory owned corporations.
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