Page 1823 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 19 August 1992
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MS ELLIS: I do not know why Mr Fischer did. The other quote I would like to use from Mr Fischer appeared in the Australian Magazine of 4 and 5 April this year. It read:
National Party leader Tim Fischer is quick to claim exemption from the Canberra cocoon. "I always catch the last plane in and take the first plane out after Parliament rises," he says. "Canberra is not Australia - but we now have fourth-generation Canberrans running departments who only have fleeting glimpses of the great Australia beyond".
Dr Hewson stated on 11 March this year:
We have in our policy of course a decision to move parts of the government departments out of Canberra to other parts of the country; we haven't decided yet which and where.
Good heavens! I also refer to an article in the Canberra Times of earlier this year in which Dr Hewson is quoted as saying:
Treasury economists should be sent to Sydney's outer western suburbs and Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce officials should go to places such as Geelong where they could see the dramatic consequences of high interest rates.
Again, that is a report out of a media outlet. Here is another one from the Australian of 27 July. This I find distasteful and beyond the pale. Dr Hewson was introducing to the electors of Perth the Liberal contender for Kim Beazley's seat in Perth, who happens by chance to be a veterinary surgeon. Dr Hewson said:
People who are close to animals do well in Canberra and probably working with animals will be good training for living and working in Canberra.
What an appalling quote! Six days later, Mr Reith, at a function in Brisbane, said:
... we are very keen on two concepts. One, privatisation - which is just taking the delivery of a service now provided by government out of the government sector entirely and putting it into the private sector. And you can take slabs -
I repeat, "slabs" -
of the public sector in Australia and just privatise them, which we will do.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Take relevant slabs, please, Ms Ellis.
MS ELLIS: Very well, Mr Deputy Speaker. He also said:
And, secondly ... there's tremendous scope for efficiency improvements by contracting out government services.
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