Page 3081 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 10 September 1991
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MR DUBY: How silly of me. I should have guessed that the MBA figures would be wrong and the BWIU right. Nevertheless, even if we wish to dispute the actual levels - I must admit that I am not an expert; I simply take the figures that are put in front of me in this regard - it does mean that a decline of some $17m in the capital works program will lead to a severe reduction in the work force generally in the ACT.
I think that that, frankly, is the wrong way to be going in this particular economic climate. Anything that will reduce the work force is patently absurd in these hard times. To adopt that attitude by taking out of the capital works program and trying to put it into the recurrent program, which I am sure is what we will see at the end of the day when Ms Follett brings down her full budget this time next week, is, I think, a sleight of hand that anyone who can read the figures will certainly be able to pick up quite easily. I am quite disappointed to see that reduction. Some of the areas where that reduction has occurred are, of course, major projects which have been overdue for some time.
I have read the dissenting report by Mrs Grassby a number of times and each time I come back to it I am more and more amazed at the language that is used in it. It does make me wonder, actually, what is the point of having government members on committees if they are going to put down dissenting reports which are, frankly, nothing more than government propaganda statements. They really, clearly, do not address the issues. I never knew that Mrs Grassby, for example, was a qualified engineer; but her reason for not doing the Adelaide Avenue bus lane is:
The tearing up of road surfaces is not only inconvenient for commuters but also unnecessary in this Capital Works Program.
That is her contribution as to why this necessary project should not go ahead. Not only that; she is also a health expert. She says that Mr Berry has indicated that a hospice will be built on the Acton site, contrary to advice from those who are involved in that particular area of care, and here is the reason why it should go there:
It seems to me that the particularly tranquil surroundings on Acton Peninsula ... make this the most suitable site.
That, to me, hardly smacks of deep thought or much attention being paid to the details involved in this report. All in all, in view of what I am sure we will see later in the week, some of the doctrinaire policies which will be adopted by the Government in its coming budget, I guess we can count our blessings that the capital works program has been cut by only $17m in real terms. Nevertheless, I think it is $17m too much. There undoubtedly will be severe repercussions from these
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