Page 2175 - Week 08 - Thursday, 10 September 1992
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a frustrated opposition that is going nowhere. If you do not have anything positive to say, say nothing. It would be better if we were not burdened with speeches of the sort we have just had to wear.
Supplementation is available to all programs from the Treasurer's Advance. You know that; you ought to remember - it was not that long ago. I just cannot comprehend how these people can continue to act in such a frustrated way. Why are they not coming up with something positive? They cannot think of anything. They have no initiative, except to attack the public sector. It is always easy to come up with good ideas. You would, would you not?
Mr De Domenico: Someone has to come up with them. You do not.
MR BERRY: Yes, that is right; you are full of bright ideas. We heard an example of it yesterday. The truth of the matter, Mr Kaine, is that, unlike in the period when you were the Treasurer, in health at least there was a program implemented which ensured that the budget was properly managed. The budget was properly managed, supplementation was properly managed, and at the end of the day there was a small surplus. Supplementation was made in accordance with the business rules. What you will never ever be allowed to forget is that there was no unapproved funding, as there was in your day.
Let us not forget the picture of the Treasurer standing up there saying, "I do not know what is going on in health; they will tell me if something is wrong". Something was really wrong because the money was flowing thick and fast. You did not know what was going on as it fell to pieces underneath you. Your Health Minister was so unconcerned about the disarray in health that he could not even be bothered to put the resources in to find out what was wrong. That is the situation.
Mr Kaine: We did put the resources in. It was we who hired Mr Enfield.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry, you will address your remarks to the Chair and the interruptions will cease.
MR BERRY: That was the true situation. The whole of Mr Kaine's speech was a classic example of frustration. He had nothing positive to say, only negatives. It is a bleating opposition that is really going nowhere.
MR DE DOMENICO (11.43): Madam Speaker, I rise to endorse once again what the Leader of the Opposition has said. For Mr Berry's information, the figures the Leader of the Opposition used were not the leader's figures; they were not even Mr Berry's figures, thank God.
Mr Lamont: Mr De Domenico, even the children will not listen to you.
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, that defies even me saying anything. We are used to stupid statements from Mr Lamont; another one is not going to matter. There are a heck of a lot of other children out there that do not like Mr Lamont either, because he has banned circus animals; and Mr Lamont knows that as well.
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