Page 3620 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 19 October 1993
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MS FOLLETT: I beg your pardon; they wish to sell off only the profitable bits of those enterprises. They simply cannot see past their own ideology, to recognise when a good job is being done. They are blinded by ideology. I think it is regrettable that we get yet again the kind of vacuous ideological ravings we have heard from Liberal members opposite. The COAG meeting deserves better than that. The issues it addressed are very serious national issues. In COAG meetings they are addressed in a serious and businesslike way. If the Liberals opposite were ever to get the chance to attend one of these meetings, which seems highly unlikely, they would be a little chastened, I think, to see that the kind of ideological cant, the vacuous rhetoric, we have heard from them this evening has no place in this kind of forum. I will continue to report to the Assembly on further meetings of COAG, but I hope that in future I will get a better standard of debate from members opposite.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
HOUSEHOLDER SURVEY REPORT
Ministerial Statement and Paper
Debate resumed from 26 August 1993, on motion by Ms Follett:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (9.23): Surveys, as we all know, can be exceedingly useful exercises. They can also be politically expedient. I think this is a good time to be talking about the 1993 ACT householder survey. The Chief Minister has already proudly declared that this survey and the 1991 survey were part of her ongoing commitment to community consultation. This is the second such survey conducted by this Government and, unless there are major changes, I think it should be the last. The Government should have at least reverted to its 1991 survey format if it were at all serious about hearing the views of Canberrans. The 1991 survey was four pages in length - two for general households and two for the Housing Trust tenants. The 1993 survey is only two pages in length, the other two pages being a letter from the Chief Minister and a very pretty photograph, but absolutely no place for householders to write what they really thought.
This latest householder survey is also far more blatantly political than was its 1991 predecessor. This year's questionnaire was clearly designed to minimise the number of adverse comments that could possibly be put in about government services. There were few open questions which could solicit any meaningful comments at all. Like the 1991 version, this survey report - - -
Mr Kaine: They wanted to know whether anybody had any dual-flush toilets.
MRS CARNELL: That is true. This survey responded to adverse results with blatant political statements which attempted to explain away any dissatisfaction. There is no indication either as to the cost of the 1993 survey. The 1991 survey was listed in the report itself as costing $20,000. Why did we not publish the cost this time?
Ms Follett: Why did you not ask me?
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