Page 1447 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 1993
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Act decisively; do something; none of this fiddling around, make a decision and stick by it. He said:
This means all the emergency services personnel have to be equally trained and be equally effective and efficient, and indicates the need for one efficient service rather than various services.
There is no point in mucking about, he said; make a decision and stick to it. Mrs Carnell said:
Therefore, it would seem appropriate right now to make a decision on who does the job ...
Get on and do something; do not just muck around with further inquiries. What did Mr Kaine say? In relation to my statement that we were further looking at this analysis, Mr Kaine said:
It is uncharacteristic of Mr Connolly, because he has it within his power to rectify this.
... ... ...
I would be much happier if I saw Mr Connolly acting in his usual decisive manner and saying, "This is our strategy; this is what we are going to do and we are going to have this fixed inside three months".
Mr Kaine criticised me then, suggesting that I was saying, "Hang on a bit; let us have a couple of reports". "Do not have a few reports", said Mr Kaine, "act decisively". Mrs Carnell said, "Act decisively". Mr Westende said, "Act decisively". Madam Speaker, the Government acted decisively and said that we would end the farce of road rescue. What do they now say? They say, "Let us have some reports". This is foolish politics at its highest.
We have had two reports into fire and emergency services in the last two years. We had the Hannan Group report and we had the Purdon consultancy on the Hannan report. The Hannan report is particularly germane to this debate. This was a major report, commissioned by the Alliance Government but extending over some 18 months, into the fire and emergency services. It was this report which led to the creation of the fire and emergency services bureau within my department - - -
Mr Humphries: But not to the police rescue service amalgamation.
MR CONNOLLY: Is this debate about reversing the decision on police rescue? If it is, I suspect that some members of your party would not want to support it. Is that what you are debating? Your motion, on its face, is about the future of emergency services. In relation to road rescue, three of your members who spoke on an MPI some months ago said, "The farce of ongoing rivalry has gone on too much. Mr Connolly, stop mucking around. Do not have more reports; act decisively". I acted decisively, and now you want me to have another report.
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