Page 4185 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 October 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I really congratulate the NRMA on what they have done. I am not too sure whether there would be too many companies with similar sorts of profits that would come forward and say, "You have all been very good and done the right thing. Now we are going to give you this money back". I am quite sure that in the corporate world that would never happen. We all watched Wall Street and know what it is all about - greed, greed, greed. But it is very nice to be able to say to the people in Canberra that we do have - - -
Mr Kaine: I did not watch it.
MRS GRASSBY: I will make sure that I get you a copy. The NRMA have done the right thing by the people of Canberra. I think they should be congratulated. It should not be thought that this money belongs to everybody in Canberra. It does not. It certainly does not belong to the people who have never registered cars and have never paid third-party insurance here, and it certainly does not belong to people who have just arrived here and have just paid third-party insurance. It really belongs to the motorists. There is no way we could possibly track down all those motorists.
I think what is going to be done is a very sensible solution. I was the Minister when this matter first came up; but, unfortunately, through some silly accident I am no longer the Minister. Of course, the work has been carried on, and I am glad to see that my partner here, Mr Connolly, has done very much the right thing. The people of Canberra are really going to benefit from his negotiations with the NRMA.
MR BERRY (Minister for Health and Minister for Sport) (4.12): Mr Speaker, I rise just to address the sentiments of the matter of public importance which was put to this Assembly by Dr Kinloch. It refers to "the failure of the Follett Government to consult properly with the people of the ACT". That is an undue accusation and it merely reflects that the Residents Rally is just a nark in this Assembly. They have failed to congratulate the Government on carrying through a good job for the people of the ACT in conjunction with the National Roads and Motorists Association. For the Residents Rally to take the line that they have in the words expressed in the matter of public importance does them no credit.
Mr Collaery: You do not like opposition.
MR BERRY: Mr Collaery refers to opposition. If Mr Collaery ever makes it back into this place, I am sure he will have something to do with opposition; but it will not be anything that will concern the Labor Party. We will be able to contend with it quite easily, as we have done in the past. One of the issues which make it so easy for Labor to deal with people such as those who have been attracted to the parliamentary wing of the Residents Rally party - - -
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .