Page 3080 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 17 November 1992
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MR KAINE: Exactly. But you were there when you were required to be there. I will come to the attendance of - - -
Mr Connolly: You were a member of the committee. You should have been there for the whole proceedings.
MR KAINE: Madam Speaker, do I have to enter into a debate with this man? Will you please protect me from this?
Mr Connolly: You are the best interjector in the house. You are being protected from some very -
MR KAINE: And I have been suspended because of it. Now, what about him?
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! I am sorry, Mr Kaine; I misinterpreted. I thought you were enjoying it. I will protect you from here on.
MR KAINE: These people opposite - - -
Mr Berry: You can tell when he is not enjoying it - his eyes bulge.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, members!
MR KAINE: If these people opposite are going to suspend me for interjecting, then let us have a bit of fairness.
MADAM SPEAKER: Members will cease interjecting.
MR KAINE: You talk about fairness and equity, Minister. You can chuckle; but you hate having the blowtorch on your belly, don't you, and that is what this report is about.
Mr Connolly: You were not there to apply the blowtorch.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order! Mr Kaine has the floor.
MR KAINE: Thank you, Madam Speaker; I appreciate that. The fact is that this report comprehensively presents to the Assembly the outcome of the Estimates Committee process. You can whinge and you can whine and you can twist and you can squirm, and three backbenchers of the Government can complain, but they have no right to do so. The estimates process was carried through properly and comprehensively under the chairmanship of Ms Szuty.
We come to this question of attendance at the Estimates Committee. The Government has taken great delight in pointing out that some members of the Opposition were not at meetings of the Estimates Committee on particular days. I remind them - - -
Mr Connolly: Two of my shadow spokespersons were not there at all.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
MR KAINE: I remind Mr Connolly that this Assembly approved leave for a couple of the Liberals who were not there. Why did you not stop the leave? If you did not want them to be away, why did you not stop the leave?
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