Page 4127 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
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to manage an office, and that recognition is adequately served. Mr Collaery, in the early days of change following the collapse of the Alliance Government, screamed about the absence of staff for himself. He asked Labor to investigate the matter, and we undertook to do that.
Mr Jensen: Which you did not do.
MR BERRY: Hang on a minute. Here is Norm chattering again. Why would we bother? Whilst we had said that we were prepared to review the situation, you went off and introduced your LA(MS) Amendment Bill. Why would we do it with a gun at our head? No chance, Norm. If you want to play games, you are going to have to play them the hard way. We are prepared to play a straight bat, but you people are not.
This issue deserves a decision which preserves the status quo. It would be silly in the extreme for us to be making these changes at this time merely to serve some sort of personality vendetta which does not deserve the attention of this Assembly. Changes have occurred in this Assembly between groups and parties. We now have eight distinct groups in this Assembly. I am told, and I fear, that there may be more. That is a little hard to predict. If that were to occur, would it mean that we would need another arrangement to cover these sorts of situations in the final three months of this Assembly?
What Mr Collaery has proposed has its own inequities. It does not recognise the additional responsibilities in terms of the dollars that are required by single members. When Labor came to office following the collapse of the Alliance Government, we recognised the inequities and we moved quickly to fix them. Mr Stevenson, who is not here at the moment, was receiving a higher salary allowance for his staff than some other members of the Assembly. That was remedied by the Chief Minister, and Mr Collaery got paid more. But he wants more again. With three months to go, it is just about getting his greedy little hands and feet into the trough, and to settle some old scores. We are not going to have a part of that. We are about providing some stability.
Mr Collaery: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Mr Berry and Mr Kaine find this amusing. I do not have my feet or hands in the trough. There is an imputation there. I ask that Mr Berry withdraw it. There is a personal imputation and I resent it.
MR BERRY: No, you certainly do not, because we are not going to let you.
Mr Collaery: Mr Speaker, if you are going to keep this debate in order, I ask that you stop him at this stage.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Berry, I ask you to withdraw that. Imputations on a personal basis - - -
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