Page 184 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 1991
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That is the style of confrontation. Of course, there also is internal confrontation within the Government. We had the unedifying experience of Mr Collaery and Mr Duby at blows with each other; verbal blows, at least. I do not know what happened up on the fifth floor.
Mr Duby: A verbal tongue-lashing.
MR WOOD: A verbal tongue-lashing. Mr Duby gave Mr Collaery a tongue-lashing. Mr Collaery, I heard on the radio, was quite stunned about that. It shows that the conflict is not just between Government and community but also between the members of the Government. Then we had the occasion when Mr Collaery instructed the police to arrest a blind lady and a dog at South Curtin Primary School. This is the level of confrontation that this Government has carried on in this Territory.
This is a participatory system here, a point I have made before. Since 1974 that has been heavily emphasised; it has been required and encouraged. Mr Humphries and his colleagues should not be surprised when the community demands that participation will occur, demands that the Government live up to the principles that have been long established in this system.
The second principle that Mr Humphries operates on - I have mentioned this before in the Assembly - is a lack of knowledge. Yesterday we had the perfect example. I should not, perhaps, use that word "perfect"; it was the imperfect example. When a question was asked about the fate of the behavioural unit at Curtin, he did not know the answer.
Now, that is the level of detail that the Minister should have. It is not fine detail; it is very important detail, reflecting on the need to care for every child. It is an important issue in our society and, indeed, a standing committee of this Assembly is looking at that problem. But the Minister did not know what had happened to that unit; and that says it all.
In another question that was posed yesterday we asked about the cost of the refurbishment, if that is the word, at Curtin Primary School. There is no more important task on the financial side that this Government faces than curtailing its costs, and yet the Minister had not caught up with how things were going. We keep hearing from the Government how important it is to watch the costs of the system. That was the rationale behind the school closures, and yet the Minister had no knowledge. These are matters that ought to be known and they were not. But, of course, we have heard this for over a year now, as Mr Humphries has employed the tactic, in question time and elsewhere, of responding to questions by saying, "Well, you do not need to know that now; when I am ready, I will tell you". He
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