Page 237 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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She did not get any answer on those questions either. So, what did she go for? She failed miserably, Madam Speaker. She got no assurances, not even from the Health Minister, who did not want to know anything about funding guarantees. Again on the Matt Abraham show yesterday she went on to say:
So, really, there is a lot in it for the ACT.
There is indeed a great deal on the agenda of the Special Premiers Conference that is of great concern to the ACT. In the event, however, the conference gave nothing to the ACT. I must correct that. It did allow us, magnanimously, to retain our own Weapons Act - God bless them, as if it is any of their damn business - and we are allowed to keep our pornography. I am sure that the Chief Minister is pleased and delighted with that.
The Chief Minister agrees that we have got nothing from One Nation - she has said that - but suggests that we could possibly get more projects and programs out of the better cities program. Even the world's worst economist - and that might be marginally about where the Chief Minister stands - will tell you that not even Paul Keating will blow out his better cities program for Rosemary Follett when he has a potential $9.3 billion budget deficit, at least, at this point. It is pure wishful thinking on the part of the Chief Minister.
We are told that "a government source" says that the ACT's transitional funding has been a lousy deal from the Commonwealth. Surely it has not taken Ms Follett three years to reach that conclusion. What we have, Madam Speaker, is a statement that says that the Chief Minister has failed miserably in having any effect on the Commonwealth on matters of financial affairs.
The Chief Minister says that the Premiers Conference is not a "State of origin stoush". In this she demonstrates her ineptitude in Territory-Commonwealth negotiations because, like it or not, she does represent this Territory. It is a State of origin contest. I would not use the word "stoush" myself, but that is all right. It is a State of origin contest. If the Chief Minister is not prepared to play hard ball on behalf of the Territory, then maybe Mr Lamont had better start getting his No. 1 guernsey on because he might need it a little earlier than even he expected.
Madam Speaker, there is absolutely no force behind the Chief Minister's ability to negotiate - I use the word loosely - with her colleagues from the Commonwealth and the States. She seems to believe in the patty cake approach to politics. Even the one Minister in her own Cabinet with any intestinal fortitude, and that is Mr Connolly, has been infected by Ms Follett's patty cake approach to politics.
Ms Follett: What is wrong with powder puff? That was it last year, wasn't it?
MR KAINE: No, patty cake is better. Mr Connolly just recently was confronted by the ACTION bus trade unions, and he went out there very macho. He was going to fix the trade unions in ACTION buses all right.
Mr De Domenico: What did he do? Tell us what he did.
MR KAINE: He had a great time. He took a tough stance, as we all know, and what happened? In the end the solution to the problem was to give everybody a pay rise. The fact is that a $63m subsidy is coming from the taxpayer already. He gave them a pay rise. We even pay the bus drivers for work that they do not do.
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