Page 635 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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Mr Berry: I think it smacks of intellectual laziness and intellectual dishonesty.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Berry, please resume your seat.
Mr Duby: On a point of order, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker: For many months we have had to sit and endure being called "a lazy Government" by the lazy Leader of the Opposition.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think the point is made, Mr Duby. Would you please resume your seat? I call Mr Kaine.
MR KAINE: It is quite true. It is neither unparliamentary nor untrue to assert that they are lazy, because they are rarely here. They do not earn their keep and I would like to see them do so.
As I have acknowledged, the youth unemployment rate in the ACT is high. It is something that we are extremely concerned about, but it needs to be put into some sort of perspective. Contrary to Ms Follett's objection, I have not said that it is not a problem. Of course, it is a problem, and it is a matter of great concern.
Mr Berry: But you are not doing anything.
MR KAINE: That is not true either. You keep saying that, but it is not true.
Mr Berry: There are no results; you are not doing enough.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Mr Berry!
MR KAINE: If the intellectually lazy Mr Berry will sit there long enough to listen, he might learn something. Even with the difficult economic times that we are facing today, the residents of the ACT - and this is a fact - along with those of New South Wales enjoy a climate where the levels of employment growth and unemployment are the best in Australia. That is significant when you look at who is leading the governments in those two States. I have outlined the record of the Labor States.
Mr Berry: Respond to the 300 per cent growth.
MR KAINE: In January 1991 the overall unemployment rate in the ACT was lower than that for any other State or Territory.
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Chief Minister! Please, would you resume your seat. Mr Berry, you have been continually interjecting. I would request that you desist from that and allow the Chief Minister to make his statements.
Mr Berry: I will remind you of that later on.
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