Page 4906 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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us, after the next election, to be quartered in our own electorate offices in anticipation of either a Hare-Clark electoral system or single-member electorates, whatever comes about. I am confident that it will be Hare-Clark.
The failure to make a provision in the Estimates for electorate offices means that those of us who want to go elsewhere will be footing our own bill. Of course, the major parties have an advantage there. By and large, they have a good financial base. Certainly, Ms Follett has substantial support from the good people in the north of Canberra, particularly in one of the clubs. I envy her because of that; she is lucky. For me, it would be a very heavy burden. This matter should have been examined. I am critical of the fact that we have made no forward provision for electorate offices. We should not be waiting on the outcome of the referendum, which of course will determine the complexion of the Assembly following the next.
Next year people should be able to get out of this building, with its very large costs. There should be a common room for politicians, as exists in other parliaments. It might break down some of the barriers. We should be able to come in on sitting days and attend to our business, and go back to the footpath-type offices that we really should have in representing the people, instead of being quartered here like some new breed of politicians that exists nowhere else in the country.
The next issue on the Assembly front is the provision of motor vehicles. I believe that if that has to be, if it is appropriate, economically sound and so forth - and I believe that those arguments have been advanced - it would be appropriate to ensure that the difference between the Senior Executive Service, who come down in their iridescent large sedans, and the - - -
MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Jensen): Order, Mr Collaery! Your time has expired.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (4.50): I would like to respond very briefly to the comments that Mr Collaery has made. Firstly, I address the reduction in security expenditure for the Assembly. It is the case that funds have been reduced right across the ACT Government Service. We expect all of the departments to cope with that situation. We expect all of them to deliver the same level of services with less funds. It seems to me only fair that we should also ask the Assembly itself to accept a level of reduction as well.
It should not have come as a surprise to anybody that we have taken the action that we have in relation to security, because it has always been the position of my party, my colleagues, that the security arrangements which were instituted without consultation, without agreement, were totally unwarranted and overly expensive. It is very regrettable that we went through a farcical situation with
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