Page 1770 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 15 June 1993
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(3) noting that the Minister's decision was made in contempt of the clear resolution and intention of this Assembly,
this Assembly expresses a lack of confidence in the Minister and, in line with long established and numerous precedents in the Westminster parliamentary system, requires that he resign forthwith.
The Minister proposed that the police rescue services be given across to the Fire Brigade. On 13 May this year Mr Humphries, because of some concern exhibited by the services, by the community and by members of this Assembly, moved this motion:
This Assembly calls on the Government to conduct an inquiry into the provision of emergency services in the Territory, including police, fire, ambulance and road rescue services.
It referred to various services, and then in paragraph (2)(a) it stated:
determination of the most appropriate structure for the provision of services, including whether services should be collocated, consolidated or otherwise rationalised;
It concluded:
The inquiry be conducted by an independent inquirer, be appropriately resourced, and report to the Government before the end of 1993.
Mr Humphries during the debate said:
The key question we need to ask ourselves is whether the changes being proposed by the Government in respect in particular of the decision to phase out or reduce the capacity of the police rescue service to conduct road rescues in the ACT are capable of reducing cost without an unacceptable loss of quality in the services offered to the people of the Territory.
He spoke of some of the reasons why this would be worth while, but they are not particularly relevant to what was done. Mr Moore, in supporting the proposal, said:
It seems to me that we should accept that the inquiry proposed by Mr Humphries is one that says, "Okay; now what are the next steps?".
He made the point that we should not look at the things that have already been decided by previous inquiries; we should move on from there. Helen Szuty in her speech said:
However, from my own experience of government consultative measures, I feel that more is needed than to ask for opinions on decisions which the Government says are already made.
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