Page 739 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
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MR CONNOLLY (4.05): The most extraordinary word used by the Minister in his attempt to turn this censure motion around and attack the Labor Party was the word "hypocrisy", which he used on regular occasions. I was not a member of this place last year when the debate was raging on the so-called budget blow-out of $7m in the health budget; but I was a member of the ACT community, and a person who obviously took a great interest in what was going on. I read the newspapers and watched the television and listened to talkback radio from time to time on my way to and from work. That is when I heard Mr Humphries trying to make a name for himself as the guardian of financial rectitude; as the person who would bring sound management practices into the health administration; as the person who was outraged at this alleged blow-out under the Labor Government; as the person who thundered from the rooftops that the health system was in crisis because of this alleged $7m overrun; as the person who made promises to fix this; and as the person who said that the Labor Government had to fall because of this alleged blow-out.
We now hear today that the Chief Minister says that the word "blow-out" cannot be used. That is a "no-no". That is an "unword". The term that we read in the ministerial statement is "overrun". "Overrun" is okay; "blow-out" is not. Of course, Mr Humphries somewhat undermined the Chief Minister by referring throughout to an alleged blow-out under the Labor Government. So, clearly, we have a proposition that blow-outs occur under Labor governments, but prudent financial management by a Liberal government merely results in $12m overruns.
So, an overrun of $12m is okay, but a blow-out of $7m is grounds for bringing down a government. I suspect that it matters little to the Canberra community whether the word "overrun" or "blow-out" is used, although I would say that "blow-out" is, of course, a perfectly appropriate term. The Macquarie Dictionary definition of "blow-out" is, as used in commerce, "a rapid and sudden expansion, as of money supply". This rapid and sudden expansion of the need to supplement the health budget is clearly, in anyone's language - including the authors of the Macquarie Dictionary - a blow-out, whether or not the Chief Minister likes the term.
The Canberra community obviously lacks confidence in this Government's ability to manage the health portfolio. It saw this Government come to power on the basis of a deal between the parties - and I will come to that later. It saw this Government come to power on Mr Humphries' assertion that there was a crisis in the health service because of an alleged $7.5m overrun. He now comes and tells us that the same thing is happening, but it is now $12m.
The Labor Administration that was in office for only a short six months was the first administration that had to tackle the problems of running this Territory. As Mr Berry
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