Page 1640 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 30 April 1991
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Mr Berry: Who was that?
MR KAINE: I do not know their Christian name. I am not allowed to use the Christian name of the Leader of the Opposition and I do not know the Christian names of every one of the 20,000-odd public servants that we have on our payroll. I do not know who the person was, but my recollection is that such a person was appointed. We now discover a year later that the system is still not working well and there are further recommendations as to the things that the Government should do to address the matter.
Those matters will be taken up by the appropriate Minister. We have already taken some actions to strengthen the management there. The Minister will take any further action that is required to strengthen it, to get appropriate expertise in there to deal with this particular subject that has now been brought to our attention. It is futile on the part of the Leader of the Opposition to suggest that the Government sat on its hands and did nothing. That simply is not the case. I know, I repeat, that the Leader of the Opposition would love to be able to prove that that was the case. It simply is not the case, and for her to assert it does not make it so.
Consumer Affairs
DR KINLOCH: Mr Speaker, I well appreciate that you properly gave me an F for my previous question. I will now restate the question. My question is to the Minister responsible for consumer affairs, Mr Collaery. Are you aware of an article published in the consumer affairs magazine, Consuming Interest, claiming that you rate only a C grade for your efforts in consumer affairs? What comment do you have to make in relation to this?
MR COLLAERY: I thank Dr Kinloch for the question. I notice that the media release said, "Women Consumer Ministers Top of the Class", so I am sure that Mrs Grassby would be happy about that.
Mr Speaker, I rise to answer this question more to boost the morale of the staff of the Consumer Affairs Bureau than to respond to those issues that I have already responded to through the media. I want the staff of the Consumer Affairs Bureau to know that they have my unqualified support. I think they received, and as their responsible Minister I can say that I received, a pretty tough blow in that report. We have analysed it. The timing is difficult for a government department when it happens in the evening and the publicity is embargoed until the morning.
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