Page 4961 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Mr Moore: This is exactly the approach you used last year, which is why it rolls off the tongue so easily.
MR KAINE: I went through the arguments last year; but I did not have to use them because, as I said, nobody came forward with any sensible amendments to improve the budget. This time we are coming up with a couple of sensible amendments. All I am suggesting is that the Government, instead of arbitrarily rejecting them off the top of the head, as they have rejected every other proposal that has been put to them through the spurious processes of so-called community consultation, might at least listen to the members of the Assembly when they put forward a minor amendment to their budget.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (10.00): The Follett Labor Government's budget is about fairness, and this reduction to the police budget is consistent with that approach of fairness. To support my assertion that what we have done to the police budget is fair, I can think of no better person to quote than the distinguished legislator and member of the Assembly who has just spoken, Mr Kaine. In the Canberra Times of 8 August last year Mr Kaine said, in relation to funding of the police by the Commonwealth:
There is no continuing commitment beyond this year ...
That is inconsistent with some of the intemperate remarks his colleague Mr Stefaniak has been making. He has been trying to suggest that there was a fixed amount of money given to us by the Commonwealth that we did not apply to the police budget. That was refuted clearly in the Estimates Committee by a Treasury minute. I challenge anyone to show me where the Commonwealth appropriated an amount of money or passed a set amount of money over to us. Of course they did not and of course Mr Kaine recognised that last year. He said:
There is no continuing commitment ... we will have to review [the police budget] and make a decision about what it should be from then on.
That is, from this year on. He said:
The police force will be like any other element of the community and if we have to make cuts they will have to bear their share.
Mr Kaine, to his credit, has acknowledged all the time that he said that, and he has repeated his remarks this year.
Mr Kaine: Because I am so consistent, you should listen to me now.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .