Page 2919 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 September 1994
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MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.26): In response to this matter of public importance, I would like, first of all, to briefly describe what are the Government's key achievements to date in the area of consultation and I would like to detail the strategy that has been put in place to further enhance the consultation with the community. I would like also to draw a very sharp contrast between this Government's genuine commitment to consultation and, of course, the very shallow knee-jerk reaction that we have seen from the Liberals opposite.
I do not believe that anybody in our community could ever forget that when Mr Humphries was Minister for Health it was he who closed Royal Canberra Hospital, in the face of 40,000 signatures on petitions urging him not to do that. It was Mr Humphries, as Minister for Education, who announced, completely out of the blue, that he would close 25 of Canberra's schools - a quarter of our schools - and absolutely refused any consultation on that. What we have seen from Mr Humphries is one of the greatest displays of hypocrisy that I have ever seen in this place.
Mrs Carnell: Mr Humphries went to every single public meeting.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Deputy Speaker, I can assure you that I will not shout over these people. If they interrupt me, I will stop.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: I call for some silence, to hear the Chief Minister. Mr Humphries was heard in comparative silence.
MS FOLLETT: Thank you. Mr Deputy Speaker, I would also comment on the Liberals' apparent replacement for genuine consultation, and that is their Community Referendum Bill. Mr Stevenson has a similar Bill. This is a matter which I expect that the Assembly will be considering in greater detail through the committee process. I would like to say that I do regard some kind of referendum provision as possibly adding to a consultation process. That is a matter for this Assembly to decide. It is not a replacement for consultation. The notion that a one-off referendum, with a yes or no answer, could replace the enormous amount of effort, of time, of resources that goes into a real consultation process is absolutely simplistic. Only a man who announced the closure of 25 schools could ever think it was a replacement, because he has no idea what consultation means.
Other people, Mr Deputy Speaker, have also been none too flattering about CIR - and Mr Alexander Downer is one who springs to mind, and springs promptly out of mind again, which is unfortunately his wont. He has clearly changed his mind about CIR. I would like to quote from the lecturer in politics at the Australian Defence Force Academy. On the notion of CIR, Mr Mackerras has said in a recent article:
CIR is the most elite driven form of policy making invented.
Further on he said:
CIR is inherently unfair.
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