Page 4586 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 20 November 1991
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MRS GRASSBY: You could be right, Mr Kaine. It could have something to do with the Health Department. Maybe that is where the real problem is. Maybe we should look at - - -
Mr Humphries: Is this an admission that Wayne is giving you gobbledegook as well?
MRS GRASSBY: No, I am not saying that. I find it incredible that he would get criticised for this. I have also noticed, looking through Hansard, that there have been many repeated questions on hospitals, schools, public service staff numbers, tourism and the Raiders, to name just a few of them. All have been answered very well.
Not for a minute do I suggest that it is not a proper tactic to use - this continued flogging of a single theme - but may I suggest that, once a Minister knows his subject inside out - and Gary Humphries should relate to this - it is, of course, easy to answer the questions. So, I do not know why he bothers to ask the questions; he already knows the answers. If members ask a similar question over and over again, which we get in this house, of course the Minister is going to sound like a gramophone. Who would blame him for this? In closing, may I say to Mr Stevenson that, if he does not like politics, or perhaps if it is too hard, he should leave the field to those of us who do care about Canberra.
Mr Stevenson: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. Once again, Mrs Grassby is making personal reflections on me.
MR SPEAKER: Yes. I would ask you to stick to the topic, Mrs Grassby. I am not sure where you were leading there.
MRS GRASSBY: My point is, Mr Speaker, that if Mr Stevenson cannot stand the heat in the kitchen he should get out. We members who want to run this place properly can go on doing it, and he can go back to Hervey Bay where he belongs.
MR HUMPHRIES (4.41): I do not think there is much that I need to say to support either Mr Stevenson's MPI or, for that matter, Mr Kaine's foreshadowed censure motion, other than to cite a number of examples. I note that the Labor Party is so vitally concerned about this matter of public importance that there are precisely no members of the Labor Party present on the floor of the house. What a terrible pity it is that they see responsibility and answerability to this Assembly in that very light-hearted fashion. As I said, I can cite a number of examples which indicate very clearly that this Government and, in particular, this Minister for Health - - -
Mr Jensen: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. I am sorry; I was going to draw attention to the state of the house.
MR HUMPHRIES: We seem to have flushed a few people out, Mr Speaker.
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