Page 76 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 1991
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A further point, of course, has to be made in relation to this particular Government, and that is that I do not believe that anyone in living memory could have made out a worse case for providing extra Ministers. It is the case that they have taken an unprecedented amount of leave, that they have been away for literally months on end, and that for a continuing period half of the ministry was absent on leave. It must also be noted that, in fact, during the crucial period just past Christmas and New Year, Mr Duby was in sole charge of Government business for a period, because Mr Collaery also took a period of leave at that time and was out of Canberra. As I say, I have never ever heard a worse case for additional jobs for the boys.
Mr Collaery: Do not be sexist.
MS FOLLETT: On the question of jobs for the boys, we have also to bear in mind Mr Collaery's public pronouncements just a couple of days ago that the people who deserved these extra jobs for the boys were Mr Jensen and Dr Kinloch. So jobs for the boys they are, and jobs for the boys I suspect they will remain. Mr Collaery went on to say that he believed that Dr Kinloch had some other agenda and other interests which he was happy for him to follow - and I have no doubt we all are - and that, therefore, the job was Mr Jensen's. Jobs for the boys is the political agenda over there.
Mr Kaine: There is only one problem with your argument, and that is that it is my determination and not Mr Collaery's.
MS FOLLETT: There is a further point, as Mr Kaine points out - - -
Mr Kaine: Sheer speculation.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, Mr Kaine interjects that that is sheer speculation. I am happy to supply to Mr Kaine a transcript of Mr Collaery's comments on ABC radio. There is a further point in relation to the appointment of additional Ministers, and again it points out Mr Collaery's grave shortcomings. Recommendation 5 of the report of the Select Committee on Self-Government reads, in part:
Wherever possible the Commonwealth will legislate for the Territory by, or under, Acts of Parliament on matters where it is considered necessary to amend or repeal ACT legislation.
That is Acts of Parliament, Mr Collaery. In its response to this recommendation, the Government specifically supports that position. We had the prime example of Mr Collaery, in all his incompetence, the other day saying on radio that Mrs Kelly was wrong to say that the additional Ministers ought to be brought about by Acts of Parliament. Mrs Kelly had done no more than support this Assembly's
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