Page 245 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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of course, is one primary school. Given the opportunity to practise some micro-economic reform, or indeed to address the problem of surplus spaces, what does this Government do? Well, in one area of the ACT, in relation to West Belconnen, it does exactly nothing. It puts out a statement saying, "We are not going to develop sections of West Belconnen".
Ms Follett: It is a little bit marginal on the relevance side, I would have thought.
MR CORNWELL: On the contrary, we are discussing micro-economic reform. That is what you went along yesterday to talk about at the Premiers Conference. I must have misread this paper, because I would have thought that these are matters that should have been addressed; but they have not been. They have not been addressed at all. We now have a situation where there is a chance to practise some micro-economic reform. We do not practise it here in the West Belconnen area and, Chief Minister, you have a problem that sooner or later you are going to have to do something about these schools.
Just like the vocational training issue that was not addressed yesterday, in spite of the fact that it was built up as being a major issue for debate at this so-called Premiers Conference, I have no doubt that you will not address the hard issues, any more than your Federal Labor Government will do so. I have no doubt that in 12 months' time we will be no further advanced in anything relating to micro-economic reform, or indeed in addressing the problems that are facing this country today.
MR DE DOMENICO (4.08): Madam Speaker, I, of course - - -
Mr Connolly: This is like a Residents Rally day.
MR DE DOMENICO: Once people on the other side, including Basil, listen, I will start saying something.
Mrs Grassby: Once more with feeling?
MR DE DOMENICO: Yes, and also the faceless men from Belconnen, Ellnor - once more with feeling. Here it is, from clan De Domenico. Here we go.
My colleagues, Messrs Kaine, Humphries and Cornwell, very eloquently said to you, Madam Speaker, that in summary the results of yesterday's Premiers Conference just go to show you once again that nothing from nothing leaves nothing. The Chief Minister went to the Premiers Conference, or whatever it was called, not knowing what she was going to say, or, if she knew what she was going to say, she would not let the people of the ACT know, because as early as last Friday, when the Chief Minister was asked to talk about what she was going to say, I believe that the argument was that she was too busy to say anything.
She knows what she had to say at the Premiers Conference, and she came back empty-handed because Mr Keating quite rightly said, "When the ACT starts to show me areas of micro-economic reform" - a phrase that has been bandied around this Assembly all afternoon - "when it proves to me that you deserve to be listened to, Ms Follett, perhaps I might sit down and listen to you". But no; we are told that we did get a say in the national electricity grid, so we are able to plug into that. That is fantastic!
Mr Kaine: You got a charge out of that.
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