Page 5181 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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The fact of the matter is that members of the community who put in time on boards of management for government enterprises are entitled to be paid for their lost time. This is a most stupid attitude of the Government. I have to say that I am absolutely surprised that Mr Moore would put this forward, although I understand that he does so on the basis that it is Residents Rally policy. It is very interesting that Residents Rally policy - top end of the town policy, I might add - has just swung the Government around on the floor of the house.
This is one of the few times the Residents Rally is sticking to its policies; but it is most interesting that it is supporting the top end of the town, not the community that the Residents Rally claims that it emerged from. It is not a community party at all. Mr Collaery does not care about the community; he never has, and that is why they do not support ordinary people in the street getting paid for any lost time that they might put into these boards. The fact of the matter is that, by not paying for representation on these boards, you encourage only people at the top end of the town who can afford to do it for nothing. You will not be able to encourage ordinary working people, who might lose time to attend on these boards, to make a contribution to it.
It is an outrageous position for the Government to adopt and it is just another example of policy making on the run. The Government had been advised to include these provisions within the legislation. It was appropriate. Even though the Labor Party opposes the general thrust of the legislation, if there is to be a board, it ought to be a board that can be paid in accordance with the legislation. It is stupid, absolutely stupid, to suggest that people should perform an important function in accordance with a government's policy and not be given appropriate remuneration for the work that they provide for the community. It rules out involvement of community members at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.
Mr Collaery: Oh, nonsense!
MR BERRY: Well, you tell me how they are going to feed themselves, Bernard Collaery. I do not think you care. You have never cared. You have never cared about the community. All you have ever cared about is yourself, and that is what you are doing in this case - looking after yourself. You were trumped today; you were found out. Michael Moore worked a swifty on you, and it worked. He got you to turn the Government's policy around on the floor of this house - another knee jerk. You did not even think about it. You thought, "Hello, Michael is going to catch me out on Residents Rally policy again. We will have to turn them around here", and of course you turned them around but made another big mistake.
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