Page 1549 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 18 May 1993
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Ms Follett: That is not what Trevor said.
MRS CARNELL: It is what Trevor said. It is exactly what Trevor said.
Mr Lamont: It is not what Ms Szuty said, either.
MRS CARNELL: It is exactly what she said, as well. What has Ms Follett's Government done to date which indicates that the Government has the capacity to deliver? The Government has not even kept this year to its planned budget reduction of 2 per cent a year in each portfolio. In all honesty, can we trust the Government? I suggest not. The Government's record to date is anything but satisfactory.
Mr Berry: Everybody else thinks we can be trusted.
MRS CARNELL: Which people?
Mr Berry: People out there. They love us.
MRS CARNELL: How can the 2020 proposal, as put forward, be believed, and how can we trust the Government, given its past record? We need to look at only a few areas to see just how poor is this Government's ability in developing plans and its ability to manage them. The fact is that this Labor Government is a poor manager. I believe that the Canberra community has every right to feel sceptical not only about this Labor Government's vision for Canberra but also about its ability to achieve that vision. There really is reason for concern.
This Government is ideologically driven, which prevents it from making a realistic and accurate assessment of actual requirements. This ideological bent prevents the Government from addressing the very real needs of Canberrans, both now and in the future. Planning requires far more than just words, far more than just ideas and paper. It requires management skills - skills which Ms Follett and her Government lack. Take the health portfolio, for instance.
Mr De Domenico: Who would?
MRS CARNELL: That is right; who would? Not only has the health budget failed to meet its 2 per cent expenditure reduction, as Ms Follett promised when handing down her budget last year, but also she has allowed her Health Minister to preside over a massive blow-out of $10m - and I stress this - again. It is obvious that her Health Minister cannot cope.
Mr Berry: And treated 2,000 more Canberrans. Would she have stopped me treating 2,000 more Canberrans? Or should we have forced them into the private sector?
MRS CARNELL: I just wanted him to say that on the record. I was very keen for that to go on the record. It is obvious that her Health Minister cannot cope, yet she allows him to carry on, despite his poor management skills. Some would say that the real reason Ms Follett keeps Mr Berry there is that it takes the heat off her. It certainly does that at times.
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