Page 1309 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 16 April 1991
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MR STEVENSON: You asked specifically whether I would use the increase in the salary. A small increase was allocated recently. (Extension of time granted) The small increase that was allocated recently I spend on letting the constituents know, as best I can, things that they need to know about, the advertisements and so on.
Mr Connolly: Get back to this knocking back the ministerial offer.
MR STEVENSON: The point about having held the balance of power is that you can stand here for as long as you like and suggest that I could not have given a ninth vote to the Liberal Party and the Residents Rally in this Assembly, not gone into alliance with them, and not received a ministerial position along with it, as Mr Duby did; but people who know some of the things that are said by members of some political parties would know better. Indeed, anyone who looks at the practicality of it - - -
Mr Duby: Tell us about "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you".
MR STEVENSON: That is an interesting point. Let us have a look at some of the others. "How to conduct - - -
Mr Duby: Let us get back to the ministerial offer.
MR STEVENSON: I have never said that there was an offer of a ministerial package.
Mr Kaine: How can you knock one back if it is not offered?
MR STEVENSON: I did not use the words "knocked back". What I have said is, "Any fool would understand that if you hold the balance of power in an Assembly, and, indeed, in this one, a ministerial position is open for the asking". Mr Craig Duby is far and away the best example of that we will ever get. I made the point before Mr Duby took the ministerial position. I did not need that proof. Who would?
But, once again, let us have a look at some of the other things I mention. "How to conduct surveys - the most effective way of finding the majority view." Why would one want to find the majority view? Certainly, it does not concern the Labor Party in this Assembly unless it is something to do with getting re-elected. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the Liberal Party in this Assembly. Nearly 50,000 people signed a petition indicating that they do not want the Royal Canberra Hospital closed. What sort of a dictatorship do we live in? "How to work with your local Member of Parliament."
Mrs Grassby: Who are the four Ministers? That is what we want to know. Who are the four Ministers? Get to the juicy bit.
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