Page 1812 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 19 August 1992
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(3) rebukes The Age for rebuking Canberra rather than rebuking the Federal Government; and
(4) notes, in fact, that Melbourne elected more members of the Federal Government at the last Federal Election than Canberra did.
When I put this motion on the notice paper I thought, "There are going to be some people out there who are going to say, 'When there are all sorts of unemployment problems, health problems, and all the major matters confronting the Government, why are we debating this subject?'". Well, it is not a trivial subject, Madam Speaker. What we have here is a reflection of an attitude out there in places other than Canberra, and that attitude reflects in official and high places. It reflects, for example, when the Commonwealth brings down its budget, as it did last night, and is looking at the allocation of moneys from its budget. Canberra does not get a guernsey.
Mr Connolly: Does not get a guernsey? There is $300m worth of capital works. All that money is to be spent in the private sector.
MR KAINE: Here we go - chirp, chirp, chirp. Mr Connolly is quite happy to have Canberrans and Canberra put down constantly; he is quite happy about that, obviously.
Mr Berry: What a joke! You must have been asleep last night.
MR KAINE: I was not asleep. We will talk about that later. There is this great claim about 2,000 jobs. When? This year? Next year? The year after, when it comes off the drawing board? Are you, the Government, going to give a guarantee that the 2,000 jobs, if there are 2,000 jobs, are to be filled from the unemployed ranks in the ACT? Are you going to put a barrier around Canberra and say, "If you live in Queanbeyan, Bungendore or Braidwood you cannot get one of these 2,000 jobs"?
Mr Connolly: That will be a matter for the private sector because they will be spending the money.
MR KAINE: We will hear from you later on, Mr Connolly. I do not think that these people bleating on the other side - Mr Connolly and Mr Berry - can deny that we suffer in the financial stakes because there is a perception that we are a bunch of fat cats and that we are already overprovided for. I think it is time that this perception - - -
Mr Lamont: What is Hewson going to do? Cut them off at the knees.
MR KAINE: Here comes the ringmaster.
Mr Lamont: If I am the ringmaster today, sir, you are the clown.
MR KAINE: I am no clown and I will prove it to you. In fact, I have been proving it since 1974. I do not know where you have been in all that time. The simple fact, Madam Speaker, is that this is not a trivial matter. Some people might regard it so, but it is not.
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