Page 238 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
So, that is Mr "Macho" Connolly. He has been infected by this patty cake approach as well. In a world where micro-economic reform is the catchword, so much for micro-economic reform; you go in fighting, you give them a pay rise, and then you back off to your corner and wait till next year for another go.
What about health, while we are on micro-economic reform and structural reform? Where is reform occurring to remove outdated and costly work practices in the health portfolio? The best that Ms Follett and her dynamic Health Minister can do is to reduce bed numbers. I would like to know how many fewer beds we are going to have this December than we had last December. Mr Berry will not tell us, just as he will not tell us anything else about health. At least the Commonwealth Minister, Mr Howe, had a solution, and his response is consistent with what Mr Berry does - fewer beds and more day surgery. That is the solution. Pretty soon we will be sending triple bypass operation candidates down to Sydney in the morning and bringing them back in the afternoon. Day surgery!
Ms Follett: You will be one of them the way you are going. Come on, settle down.
MR KAINE: No, I will not; my heart will outlast yours, I can tell you.
Also in the area of micro-economic reform, let us look at land development. The Government makes no contribution to any micro-economic reform agenda when it suggests that it intends to take servicing back into the public sector, for heaven's sake. At substantial cost to the taxpayer - $60m a year, I think, was Mr Wood's figure - the Government wants to get involved in commercial enterprises so that it can "benefit the consumers". It sounds like Victoria, does it not? It sounds like Western Australia, does it not? We are going to get into commercial enterprises to benefit the customers. Look what happened in those two States when we saw governments trying to get into private enterprise. I would say that we are going down the gurgler. Pretty soon Mrs Kirner's only alternatives available to adjust a budget will be the only ones available here as well - only we will be further down the road.
In connection with land development, of course, you can see nothing ahead if the Government takes over the land development thing - nothing but massive losses for the Government as it clearly demonstrates its inability to read the market, as it did last week. It could not even get the reserve prices on its land right; they were too high in one instance and too low in the other. So much for the Government's involvement in land development, Mr Wood.
On this particular element of their micro-economic development platform, how are they going to achieve it? The way they achieve that is that they send Mr "Storm-trooper" Jeff Townsend out there to intimidate the private sector land developers.
Ms Follett: Madam Speaker, I take a point of order. Mr Kaine has just referred to a public servant as a "storm-trooper" and accused him of intimidation. He must withdraw that statement.
MR KAINE: No, I am accusing the Government of it. It is a different thing.
Ms Follett: He must withdraw that statement.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .