Page 478 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 1991
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"just another part of the bureaucracy". We have here the constitution of a Rental Bond Board, which states how many people it will consist of. I think Mr Collaery's comments, in relation to the failures of so many statutory bodies in a number of the Labor States, are particularly pertinent here. We do not want a plethora of statutory bodies. We do not want to needlessly expand the bureaucracy. We are only a small city-state. We have limited resources. That is something that we must constantly bear in mind. Here is just another attempt to cause a more bloated bureaucracy, and I think that that is something that all governments, of whatever political persuasion, have to avoid. Even the ideological Labor Party, despite so many recent instances of failure in the other Labor States, seems not to have learnt the lesson that the trend is towards smaller bureaucracies rather than larger bureaucracies. So, I think there is a problem there with Mr Connolly's Bill, especially in relation to his Rental Bond Board and its composition.
A further complication, of course, is in clause 6, subclause (5):
The members of the Board shall be paid such remuneration and allowances as are prescribed.
This is a further cost to the community, and a further needless cost, given what the Attorney-General and Minister for Housing is proposing, and that is that anyone sitting on his proposed committee will not be drawing remuneration. He is not proposing an increase in the bureaucracy, and I do not really think an increase in the bureaucracy is at all necessary; that is really something you people should try to avoid.
You really should learn the lessons your colleagues and comrades in Victoria, in South Australia and in Western Australia have found to their detriment. Indeed, your colleague and comrade Mr Wran, in New South Wales, left Mr Greiner virtually a bankrupt State, and Mr Greiner is making very noble progress in trying to overcome that. Interestingly, Mr Goss, who inherited a Government in Queensland from the much maligned Bjelke-Petersen National Party, did not inherit a bankrupt State.
Mr Connolly: Oh, but you back him; a good bloke, don't you worry about that.
MR STEFANIAK: And "Don't you worry about that", Mr Connolly. So, really, I think you people have a lot to learn still in the matter of finances and just how to financially run a government. I think unfortunately your naivety is shown here. I think the most sensible thing you can do with this Bill, Mr Connolly, is withdraw it, or perhaps simply adjourn the debate until such time as the community consultation has been finished.
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