Page 4595 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 20 November 1991
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I feel very optimistic about the manner in which Mr Jim Service is going to manage that board, and I was a bit disturbed to hear Mr Berry describe it as an Alliance board. When Cabinet agreed to people going on that board - I am not sure whether I was present at that Cabinet meeting - I do not remember asking anyone whether they had some allegiance to the Alliance, whether they were Alliance appointees. I think Mr Berry meant that they were appointed by our Government, but I do not know whether it is proper to describe them as that. I trust that that sobriquet does not suggest that they are in any way pro those who appointed them.
Mr Enfield, at page 51 of his report, said this:
It is recommended that the RCH/WVH hospital produce a monthly information bulletin containing key data on expenditure workforce and activity levels for submission to the Finance Committee and subsequent dissemination within the hospital.
That was a Priorities Review Board recommendation, I see. The report goes on to indicate that Mr Enfield believes that there should be continuing overview. It may well be that these reports, filtered through the finance committee, if it exists, should come to Mr Berry. We do not know. That is the reason why this motion has the support of the Rally today.
We do not know, from Mr Berry's failure to respond to my question today, whether he has asked for the information; whether he is receiving it; whether he has ever received any. We do not know that, and I think he is being properly censured for refusing to tell us. He did not get up and say, "Yes, I have a report; it is here; it is somewhere in the Assembly; I will show it to members in confidence if it has commercial-in-confidence issues; I have certainly seen it; I have satisfied myself; I have discussed it with the Treasurer". None of the things that any other Minister in this house would say was said by Mr Berry.
Mr Berry's behaviour is inappropriate. It is not only his approach in question time; his overall approach in the Assembly, particularly the manner in which he approached the Estimates Committee, shows, frankly, a contempt of the very institution to which he has sought election. That has been a long time coming from us. In his personality, Mr Berry is an easygoing, laconic Australian. I give due weight to the manner in which he responds, to his diction and the way he talks as a classic Australian, which he is; but, apart from that, he really is a very shrewd holder-back of information. I think that is inappropriate. He has to stop. He has to reform his ways and put up with what we put up with when we were Ministers and had to answer and attend to scrutiny.
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