Page 3959 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 23 November 1993
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MR STEVENSON (4.22): Madam Speaker, the Chief Minister said that Mr Wood was accused of carrying out Government policy. Where in the ALP policy prior to the election does it mention this possibility? Where does it state that? I had the thought, "What would the Labor Party say at this time in this house if the proposal was put by the Liberal Party to do exactly the same thing?". I somehow think that they would be with us strongly. Everybody knows that to be true. Why is this? The Chief Minister says, regarding budget cuts, that we simply cannot ignore the facts about budgetary problems; that we cannot pretend that it is not happening. I remind members that, prior to the first election in 1989, that is exactly what was done by the ALP. They did ignore the facts of the inevitability of self-government and they did pretend that it was not going to happen. I do not know who believed that, but that is what happened. Having already pretended, saying now that you cannot pretend is a little bit late.
The Chief Minister also said that we have seen the results of irresponsible financial policies in other States. Those irresponsible financial policies are obviously headed up by borrowings. Indeed, we have. This is the first year that, unfortunately, we have jumped into the black abyss.
Mr Connolly: No. Trevor borrowed more.
MR STEVENSON: Everybody has been borrowing all the time, but it has been covered up fairly well. This time we have really done it.
Mr Connolly: If you had attended the Estimates Committee you would have known that.
MR STEVENSON: I could have written that line. The Labor Party certainly has concern over the education area. I can understand their predicament in needing to do something about reducing spending and wondering where to do it. It is not so much what the Labor Party policy is but what the people of this community want, and they want their teaching levels to remain intact. They do not want cuts in the number of schoolteachers. That is clear. That is where we - we who are in service to the people of Canberra - should put most of our attention. We should direct our attention to what they want and how we can best serve them. If cuts have to be made in education, I think most people would readily agree that the number of teachers is not the place to make them. What will happen if we cut the number of teachers? Will there be a result from that? The answer is, of course, that there will be. We already have problems in this community, in our education system, with literacy. The fact that we retain a high percentage of people through the college system does not mean that they come out with the qualifications that they should.
I have some concerns with this motion of no confidence. It is not really that the community would have no confidence in the Minister or the Government in reducing the number of teachers. I think the community would certainly agree that they cannot have confidence in the Labor Party because of their statements on the priority of education. In this parliament there are certain actions that we can take when members feel most concerned about issues, and the senior level is a motion of want of confidence. If we pass a motion of want of confidence in a Minister, I believe that it is reasonable and traditional - - -
Mr Berry: You are starting to warm to Fabian, I think, Dennis.
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