Page 2200 - Week 07 - Thursday, 6 June 1991
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We have also dealt sensibly, carefully and prudently with the judiciary and with many other sectors of the community, puzzled and worried and sometimes alarmed by self-government. Where we have been decisive - particularly in the Rally sense - and resolute, we have been labelled as indecisive. Where we have bared our conscience, we have been labelled, even by people in the Government, as naive. But the real test is whether the community interest is being pursued, regardless of the eventual result at the ballot-box.
Mr Speaker, the Chief Minister has tabled a listing of the Alliance Government's major achievements, and I am proud to have contributed to many of them. It is a good list of achievements. I have also circulated a list of the Bills that were due to be introduced before the guillotine fell - so to speak. This is a magnificent sweep and a great credit to the officials, the policy makers and the many anxious hours spent by the Ministers of the Alliance Government in Cabinet and those spent by my colleagues in the joint party room. Many of the vexed issues required a lot of discussion. The adoption Bill was one where we discussed a great number of social issues.
Mr Speaker, in this respect, I have nothing but praise for my former colleagues. They have all willingly helped with a lot of the Rally-driven reform process, and there has been give and take. The fact that there is no public recognition and the Rally is pilloried, as it was disgracefully this morning, is one part of the jaundiced, unintellectual tabloid view of self-government. The Alliance Government's major achievements are that, and they set a new level of maturation for government. I regret that we do not see the same from our grade C journalists.
Mr Speaker, I return to the prime issue that affects our city, that is, economic stability, and the Chief Minister's recent utterances about cuts in health and education. What it really boils down to is that Mr Kaine is prescribing more of the old, and the old has been, frankly, unimaginative and, in some areas, close to a failure. We cannot balance our recurrent budget, although I do not believe that that is Mr Kaine's personal fault. That falls clearly and strongly on Mr Humphries' head. We gave an assurance that we would balance that budget and I corporately share that blame, even from this distance.
Mr Speaker, how can I say in good conscience that I have confidence in the economic management of Gary Humphries and, by implication, that of Trevor Kaine? The question is: Would Rosemary Follett make a better Treasurer? In my view, the Rally is between a rock and a hard place, but we may be able to soften the hard place. We have already had a taste of Rosemary Follett's temporising approach to the budget situation, but I believe that the situation is now different.
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