Page 3725 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 9 December 1992
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MR HUMPHRIES: I would not even say that, Mr Berry. I would not use that refuge, because it is not going to be available to you. What was said back in August was that the Government's intention was to introduce as many Bills as possible in the first priority category within the budget session. Mr Berry went on to draw the comparison between what was promised for that session and what was promised for the previous session. He said:
During the autumn sittings, 41 of the 62 Bills listed in the first priority category were introduced into the Assembly. I consider this to be a reasonable strike rate, given the abbreviated nature of the autumn sittings.
Mr De Domenico: Who said that - Mr Berry or Tony Greig?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Berry. A reasonable strike rate is 41 out of 62 Bills. Let us have a look at that. Let us take that standard Mr Berry has imposed. If 41 out of 62 is reasonable - by the way, that equals 66 per cent of your first priority Bills presented; he is busy writing Christmas cards, obviously really concerned about this issue! - 66 per cent is a reasonable strike rate.
What happened in the budget session this year? Let us have a look. There were 11 Bills in the first priority category for the Chief Minister. How many were presented? Three. For the voluble Mr Berry, 20 Bills were promised - 20 first priority Bills, Bills of the highest priority this Government had to give. These are the really important Bills in this Government's legislative program. How many were presented? Five - five out of 20, or 25 per cent. Mr Wood did slightly better. Out of 13 Bills promised, four were presented. That is a great performance. Mr Connolly promised a great deal. Of the 21 Bills promised, how many were delivered? In the first priority category, only eight.
In the autumn session we had a program which was delivered at the rate of 66 per cent among first priority Bills. What is the rate during the second session of this year, the budget session? It is 20 out of 65, or 31 per cent - less than half the rate Mr Berry said back in August was a reasonable strike rate. If 66 per cent is a reasonable strike rate, what is 31 per cent?
Mr De Domenico: Unreasonable.
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, it is unreasonable. I would say that it is appalling, pathetic, lamentable, RS, whatever else you want to say.
Mr Wood: Streets ahead of what you did.
MR HUMPHRIES: No, it is not ahead of it. It was a better rate than you achieved. Mr Deputy Speaker, this Government is running on empty. It does not have anything to keep it going and it is just eking out the time until it gets to the end of this session and collapses in a heap and tries to find something to do for the next session of the Assembly.
Mr Kaine: And it has achieved it largely because of the hangover of legislation from our Government.
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