Page 195 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 April 1992
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POSTPONEMENT OF ORDER OF THE DAY
Motion (by Mr De Domenico) agreed to:
That order of the day No. 2, executive business, Aboriginal Deaths in Custody - Ministerial statement and papers - Motion to take note of papers, be postponed until a later hour this day.
LABOR GOVERNMENT PROGRAM
Ministerial Statement and Paper
Debate resumed from 7 April 1992, on motion by Ms Follett:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (4.26): Madam Speaker, I believe that it is important that I respond fully to the Chief Minister's statement of 7 April on the ALP's program for government, because there is much in that statement that simply cannot be allowed to pass without comment. In essence, I wish to expand upon five points which arise from the statement. They are, firstly, the oft-repeated but spurious Labor claim to being open, consultative and socially just; secondly, the assertion that the public has no grounds for saying that they were unaware of Labor's policies; thirdly, Labor's failure to understand or deal with the Territory's economic and financial challenges; fourthly, Labor's propensity for claiming credit for the initiatives of others; and, finally, the falsity of Labor's claims to being supportive of the private sector.
Let me begin by saying that there is more to government performance than merely making grandiose statements about it; statements have to be backed up by action. The Government's claims to openness and consultation and that its program is based on social justice have long been something of a local joke. It would be interesting to see whether the Chief Minister's rediscovery of her commitment to open and consultative government will result in actions rather than merely words this time round.
Consultation is something that Ms Follett and her colleagues have practised only when they have seen it as politically expedient to do so, and then only with those noisy minority groups thought by the ALP to deserve placating. For example, there was no general consultation or social justice in reopening elite public schools at Cook and Lyons and imposing consequential resource penalties on the rest of the school system, or in giving the Trades and Labour Council a $70,000 freebie - a gift which was disguised in the budget as limited financial support for groups taking part in the consultative process.
There was neither consultation nor social justice in the arbitrary removal of funding from certain private schools. There was neither consultation nor social justice when the Government imposed the one per cent Follett land tax on the single investment home of retired people to provide themselves with a retirement income. This Government, in fact, abandoned public consultation on the Territory Plan right in the middle of the process - a reprehensible action in
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