Page 2162 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 May 1991
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MRS GRASSBY (12.24): Mr Speaker, now we know the truth. Now the truth has come out. The Residents Rally really has not left the Government at all. It has taken us all this time to find this out. They have not really left the Government at all. They have just been caught out over the school sites, because they know how unhappy the people of Canberra are with them. Unfortunately, 41,000 people signed a petition to keep Royal Canberra Hospital open, but we are not going to have the opportunity to have that.
At least we know where the Liberals are coming from. We know their policies - their development policies and their big business policies. They have never tried to pull the wool over the eyes of the people in Canberra. Those are their policies. But the Residents Rally has done that and it is doing it again. They are walking out on this, but they are still with the Government. So it has all come out. We have been waiting to find this out all morning, but now we know that they are going to be voting with the Government.
The best way to convince fools that they are wrong is to let them go their own way. They will go their own way, and the people of Canberra will tell them. Words are so cheap in terms of what came from Mr Collaery's mouth. They remind me of the statement in Alice in Wonderland that words can mean anything you want them to mean. So he is telling you. On Monday we were worded up that Trevor had had just about as much of Bernard as he could take. On Monday we were told that things were really bad on the fifth floor and that Trevor had just about had it. Obviously I believe him. I think he has sacked them. Whether they were sacked or they walked, I think it is important that it be said that they were sacked.
Bernard and the rest of the Residents Rally are no martyrs. Let us not be fooled by the fact that they are playing the great martyr and saying, "We walked". Why did they not do something about this before all the schools were closed? Why did they not do something then? Why did they not stop Royal Canberra Hospital from being closed? Why did they wait till now when, in the case of Royal Canberra Hospital, it is going to be too late? Why did they wait to do it?
As for balancing the budget, our leader, who was Chief Minister, balanced a very good budget - and balanced it perfectly. But a $17m overrun is quite all right! It is great housekeeping, is it not? Imagine the housekeeper who goes to her husband and says, "Look, dear, you told me that we had to live on $20,000 a year, but I have just overrun the budget by another $15,000. Can you organise it for me?". Here it is, "I have just overrun the budget by $17m. It does not really matter". They may think they have pulled the wool over the eyes of the people of Canberra, but they have not. They have not pulled any wool over anybody, believe you me.
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