Page 1699 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 18 May 1994
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MR DE DOMENICO (4.57): Madam Speaker, I will also be brief. I speak on this point only because of the rubbish the Chief Minister came out with. Let us blow away this thing about the position of Leader of the Opposition. Chief Minister, the Remuneration Tribunal recognises the position of Leader of the Opposition. The Remuneration Tribunal recognises the Leader of the Opposition right now. It does not recognise Mr Berry as Manager of Government Business, or whatever he is. That is point No. 1.
Mr Moore: Our standing orders do not recognise the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
MR DE DOMENICO: No; the Remuneration Tribunal does.
Mr Lamont: And that is what Mr Humphries is upset about.
MR DE DOMENICO: We will get onto that.
Mr Lamont: Mr Humphries put in the submission.
MR DE DOMENICO: Let us get onto that, Mr Lamont, and let me tell you some facts. You are the person who always comes in here pretending to be the teacher. The situation is that I put in a submission to the Remuneration Tribunal. The Remuneration Tribunal decided what it should do with my submission, and it rejected my submission.
Mr Berry: Did you submit for your own wage increase?
MR DE DOMENICO: It rejected my submission, Mr Berry. It was a public document, by the way. I made no bones about it. In other words, we have a situation now, to follow on the Chief Minister's point, where the Remuneration Tribunal recognises the Leader of the Opposition; the Remuneration Tribunal also recognises the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, whoever he or she may be from time to time. Whether you are in government or we are in government, that is the decision of the Remuneration Tribunal. There is nothing in the Remuneration Tribunal's decisions that I have seen that treats Mr Berry's so-called position any differently from that of any other backbencher, be they a Government backbencher or an Opposition backbencher. That is point No. 1.
Point No. 2: Let us hear some home truths about this. Mr Berry said, "This is only a routine thing to do, routine presentation of papers". What rubbish! What absolute garbage! Let us talk about political realities. This is all about making Mr Berry feel a little bit more comfortable than he was without this. It does not matter whether it is Mr Berry or anybody else - and do not use the word "vindictive" because it is not vindictive at all; it is political reality.
Mr Connolly: "It is not vindictive; we just hate Mr Berry".
MR DE DOMENICO: You are in the bearpit, Mr Connolly. Get into the bearpit properly, because that is where you are. This is all about making sure that Mr Berry, the numbers man in a particular faction of the Labor Party, has the power and the position that he has been accustomed to all the way along. Let us make no bones about
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