Page 3045 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 November 1992
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they voted for unsuccessful candidates. So far as Liberals and Independents in this chamber are concerned, they actually dominate this Assembly but do not, however, hold government. Those voters who voted for the Liberal members and the Independents, nonetheless, have the democratic right to approach a member of this Assembly, be that member Independent, Labor or Liberal, and expect that member to be able to address their queries or problems.
However, this is not the case; hence this matter of public importance, namely, the lack of direct access to the ACT public service by non-government members pursuing constituency matters. This matter is brought forward for a twofold purpose: Firstly, to highlight this Government's increasing paranoia towards any information reaching non-government members that the Government itself has not vetted; and, secondly, to highlight how this obstructive behaviour is preventing non-government members from speedily and efficiently representing their constituents.
I think it is pertinent to remind members of this Government's much heralded openness and its commitment to community consultation. Yet from day one of taking office it began effectively to lower the shutters, while still ostensibly professing its openness and commitment to consultation. As evidence of this Government's failure to live up to its promises to community consultation, I quote question on notice No. 41 from me, which was lodged on 7 April this year and which concerns community consultative meetings. I asked the Chief Minister:
(1) How many such meetings were held following the first meeting on 21 June 1989 at the Northside Community Centre, Ainslie.
(2) Where and when were each of these other meetings held ...
(3) Were non-Government Assembly Members invited ...
(4) Is it your Government's intentions to hold such meetings during the term of the Second Assembly ...
That question, still unanswered, is now eight months old. Some community consultation!
As to this Government's much vaunted openness over these past eight months, I have to agree that, whilst the build-up was slow, it appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that its openness has not really been practised. Largely, it has been a time of this Government monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of the performance of the non-government members of this Assembly. Clearly, we have proved to be very effective. The questions we asked, the issues we raised for debate, the legislative initiatives we took against a slothful government, all proved worrying to the Follett Government. The Government reacted typically by underestimating the quality of this Opposition. Rather than accepting that it faced formidable and worthy non-government representatives capable of putting together a well-researched case, the Labor Party started looking for someone else it could blame for the Opposition's success, and its suspicions fell upon its own work force, the ACT public service.
Mr Connolly: What success was this?
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