Page 2044 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 June 1993
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Another quote is:
The Government has no option but to continue and to some extent increase the efforts being made to reduce the cost of service delivery for all program areas.
What on earth does it mean? Where are they going to cut? Where are they going to continue and extend efforts to reduce the cost of service delivery? Who is going to suffer? Where are the services going to be cut, and by how much are they going to be cut? Another big vacuum. Words; but no solutions, no action. Finally, she said:
The ACT must live within its means.
That is nice. I do, and I am sure that Mr Lamont does; but presumably it is news that the ACT has to live within its means. She went on:
This will require major changes in the scope and cost of services previously provided ... It will require significant changes in the community's expectations ...
But we do not even tell them what the change in expectation is likely to be. Words, words, words! When it comes down to it, they mean nothing. As usual, the Chief Minister and this Government tell us nothing; they tell the community nothing.
I mentioned that I would come back to consultation. Where is this community consultation that Ms Follett so persistently lays claim to? She tells us that she has consulted with some peak bodies, but even that consultation is a one-way street. That consultation consists of those peak bodies telling the Chief Minister what they think she should be doing, and they get no feedback. It is a one-way thing. Consultation, by definition, is a two-way street - you tell me something; I will tell you something - but not with this Government.
Mr Lamont: Mrs Carnell wants to spend, spend, spend, spend. What is your view?
Ms Follett: "All it takes is money", she said.
Mr Lamont: "All it takes is money"; that is what she said.
MR KAINE: You represent the Government, Mr Lamont, and the Treasurer represents the Government. I am suggesting that it is your responsibility to tell me, to tell Mrs Carnell, to tell the members of the Assembly, to tell the community the answer to the question that you asked. That is your responsibility. Clearly, if you are not an executive member of a peak organisation, even that one-way process is not available to you. No member of the public out there could even get an appointment to talk to the Chief Minister about it. We know of many people who sought appointments with members of the Executive, not necessarily to talk about budgets but to talk about a whole range of very important subjects, and they cannot get an appointment. So what is this community consultation that we hear so much about? Where is the consultation with the racing industry in the grab for the $20m of TAB reserves that I referred to a little while ago?
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