Page 875 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 13 March 1991
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MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR MOORE: It should not be tolerated here, but you are too weak. You are pathetic and weak.
Mr Kaine: You ought to be out of this place.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Moore! Order, Chief Minister!
MR MOORE: The editorial continued:
Given Mr Duby will not act himself, the Chief Minister, Trevor Kaine, should dismiss him.
That was the general public's opinion, and it still is. It also said:
That Mr Kaine has not dismissed him shows that Mr Kaine is not setting a high enough standard for Ministers.
I see that Mr Kaine is going red, and quite rightly so. The editorial concluded:
Therefore Mr Kaine should dismiss him - better to be out of government altogether than be sharing it with Craig Duby.
Earlier on, Mr Speaker, it stated:
It gives this newspaper no joy to have to call an ACT Minister a hypocrite and say he is unfit to hold office. The Canberra Times has been a long and vigorous campaigner in favour of self-government in the belief that people should take responsibility for their own affairs.
It was quite clear that public opinion should have gone with that editorial and its final sentence, which I repeat:
Therefore Mr Kaine should dismiss him - better to be out of government altogether than be sharing it with Craig Duby.
With such a strong statement as that, what did Mr Kaine do with Mr Duby? Absolutely nothing. Why? There is a simple reason - because government is more important than ministerial standards.
Then we have a situation where a hospital budget has blown out by some $12m. Certainly $3m or $4m of that can be accounted for in one way or another, leaving a categorical blow-out of some $8m for a Minister who knew what the problems were. He has failed to grapple with them and he has failed to handle them. He is incompetent. What has the Chief Minister done about that? Has he fired this Minister? Has he called for his resignation? No, he has not.
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