Page 4891 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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I suggest that the Labor Party should take note of what the majority of people in this community want. They do not agree with your ideological cuts to three non-government schools. The majority of people in this Assembly do not agree with your ideological cuts to non-government schools. We think, most people think, and most people in non-government schools think, that there should be an inquiry and that, pending the outcome of that inquiry, you should not go ahead with your dictatorial attitude.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.58): I think that to some degree Mr Berry's comment earlier, that we do not need everybody in the Assembly to speak on this subject, is a valid one. The arguments have been put quite forcefully already. But it should be noted that this debate need never have taken place and the subject need never have become a matter of public controversy had the Labor Party not acted in an ideological way in developing its budget. I do not think any reasonable person could argue that the inquiry along the lines now proposed should not take place.
The interesting thing is that the Labor Party will not itself take on this kind of inquiry. It continues this myth that it is a consultative government. I have dealt with the three great myths, and I will not go into that again. The last of them is, "We are a consultative government". In fact, they are not a consultative government. They are great at consulting when they want to do something to justify their own position.
They did not mind at all spending $50,000 to do an inquiry simply to confirm that the Royal Canberra Hospital should close. The three schools that have lost their funding could have used that $50,000 quite satisfactorily. They do not mind giving $70,000 to the Trades and Labour Council to make it easier for them to influence the Government in what they want done. I do not know how they can justify that. It was very carefully hidden in the budget papers and it was not obvious that that was what it was for. The schools that have lost their funding could use that $70,000 very satisfactorily.
The Government does not mind spending money when it wants to justify its own position, but when it comes to things of broader concern they talk about it but they will not do it. Mr Humphries had to force the Government into an inquiry into hospital beds. We have talked about hospital beds for years. Mr Berry constantly attacked us when we were in government. He said that we were destroying the fabric of society by reducing the number of beds in our hospitals. That was an absurdity and a total outright lie. But the first thing he did when he got into government was reduce the number of beds in our hospitals.
Mr Berry: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Mr Kaine just made the outrageous imputation that I told a lie. I require that that be withdrawn.
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