Page 648 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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The sad fact is that the Government could have provided relief for people affected by the Adoption Bill last year, if only they had brought it forward earlier and provided an adequate time for examination by the Assembly. It was another case of whack it on the table today, and we have to get it through tomorrow; do not worry about whether it is right or wrong, just let us ram it through. Well, in this case it did not happen. Simply tabling the Bill and then complaining that the Opposition would not debate it the next day is a poor excuse for proper planning of business in this Assembly. It is a poor excuse for serving the interests of the community. It is no excuse for failing to ensure full and open debate on very controversial issues.
I think the community is also entitled to ask why there are no Bills on the list which seek to assist small business - for example, for reducing payroll tax or for removing restrictive regulations on business development and growth. The Government pays lip-service to employment, but there is nothing in their program that addresses that question.
I note that the Chief Minister refers in her statement to the Opposition's use of the implementation of the legislation program as a measure of the Government's success in meeting its program. I can assure the Chief Minister that until a better measure comes along, that is, unless they can tell us what they in fact intend to do, the Opposition will continue to measure the Government's performance in terms of its capacity to carry out its own program. That does not mean that we will not use other measures of performance as well, but we will certainly use this one because it is the only time that the Government ever comes clean and does anything about telling us what they want to do. Madam Speaker, I have often called this a "do nothing, status quo" government. Nothing has changed. My remarks have been directed towards the Government's imperceptible performance in respect of its legislative program, and its almost unidentifiable performance in other more discretionary areas of activity.
We are told that the Government is to tackle the effects of the national recession. The Labor Government gave us the recession, or the depression - call it what you like - and the Chief Minister has presented no program to deal with it on the local scene. Her policies, where they exist, are simply inadequate to deal with the problem. Her solutions so far have been, to use her words, to "throw money at it" - to train people for jobs they cannot get and to employ people for six months in programs that reduce the unemployment statistics but which lead nowhere in terms of real jobs for real people.
We are informed that this Government is to continue to be concerned about unemployment. I am glad that they are going to continue to be concerned, because that is about all they do. The Government congratulates itself on the fact that 11,600 jobs have been created. I guess that will be of great comfort to the 45 per cent plus of 15- to 19-year-olds that are unable to find work. That is about 2,500 of them. I am sure that it is a great comfort for the 8.8 per cent of the general population that are unemployed. That is about 15,000 of them. So, for the Government to crow about what it did or did not do, and not address the real problem of those people that are out there unemployed today, does not do it much credit.
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