Page 454 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 1991
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MR WOOD: Manager, sic, indeed. As manager, sic, of government business, you should laugh - because today you have failed to get any government business through this Assembly, even to have it debated! So it has been a very bad - - -
Mr Humphries: What would you call my motion? What is my motion supposed to be?
MR WOOD: No, it is not government business. It did not arise as government business. Do not try to pretend that it did. So, the Government has had a very bad day. Your tactics and your whole policy background are appalling.
Question Time
MR KAINE (Chief Minister) (11.05): Mr Speaker, I do not usually speak in the adjournment debate; but Mr Wood's outburst prompts me to respond, and I really feel that I must. I am amazed that Mr Wood has become such a whinger. We have heard complaint after complaint that the Government does not give the Opposition enough time in question time. I have heard from over there a dozen times that we do not give them enough time. We gave them ample time - all the time that they wanted, virtually - and it ended up with Mr Connolly having to go to last week's Hansard to dig up questions that they had asked before because they ran out of questions. This is not a question of the Government being embarrassed or its tactics being set aside; it is a case of the Labor Opposition falling on its face. Then Mr Wood complains that the Government did not get up any business today. What has happened today has been the result of a matter of public importance raised by a member of the Opposition, and the debate has gone on ever since then on an issue raised by a member of the Opposition. How on earth can members of the Opposition complain, after today, that they have not been given every opportunity to express their viewpoint?
Mr Wood: You were not listening to me.
MR KAINE: I was listening to you all right. You said that the Government was embarrassed. The Government was not the slightest bit embarrassed. The debate today demonstrated that the Government is prepared to give the Opposition every opportunity to make its case - and the Opposition failed miserably. It failed miserably in question time. It did not raise one serious, penetrating question on any issue. It failed totally. They debated for hour on hour on hour, with Mr Berry introducing incredible debate that had no relevance whatsoever to the subject that was brought up by a member of the Opposition. I do not feel embarrassed by today's proceedings. I think the Government achieved exactly what it set out to do - to prove that the Opposition is totally ineffective.
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