Page 3226 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 21 September 1994
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MR DE DOMENICO: I will rephrase it, Madam Speaker. Is it your Government's policy, therefore, to agree with the sentiments expressed by the left wing unions and John Langmore, or will you be honouring your commitment made at a recent COAG meeting which discussed the Hilmer review and therefore be voting in favour of the benefits of competition that flow from corporatisation and privatisation?
MS FOLLETT: That is one of the very oddest questions I have ever been asked in this place, Madam Speaker. I think I can see what Mr De Domenico is getting at; but, unfortunately, he never really got to it. I want to say, first of all, that I was not at the demonstration. I am unable to vouch for the credentials of the people who were there. If there were 100 left wing unionists, I would have been only too pleased to go out and talk to them. They have their right to demonstrate against any matter on which they feel strongly, and I am only too pleased that in this day and age and in our democracy they are able to take up that right and demonstrate peacefully.
Madam Speaker, I have made no secret of the fact that this Government is opposed to privatisation. It is not a secret. It has been our policy. It was our policy in relation to, for instance, ACTEW, which the Liberals would have privatised. It is our policy in relation to ACTTAB, which you would have privatised. It is our policy in relation to the ACTION bus service, which the Liberals want to contract out. It is our policy in relation to health services, which, again, the Liberals want to pass over to the private sector. We are opposed to privatisation. We respect the public sector. We consider that the public sector can and does perform functions efficiently and effectively and we wish to support it in that role.
Mr De Domenico has touched on the Hilmer report. I want to say to Mr De Domenico that at the COAG meeting I made the point that the road to competition is not only through privatisation. You are quite wrong if you believe that. The thrust of the Hilmer report is to introduce competition, the kind of competition that we have seen Mr Connolly introduce into our petrol market, which you have not been big supporters of. You have not been big supporters of that kind of competition policy. So, Madam Speaker, I can assure the people of the Territory that we certainly will not be embarking on a wholesale sell-off of public assets. We have not done it at any stage in government and I am not about to start.
Driver Education Program
MS SZUTY: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is to the Minister for Urban Services, Mr Lamont. I am looking for a detailed answer to this question, so earlier today I gave the Minister notice that I would be asking this question. Can the Minister inform the Assembly as to what new provisions are, or will be, included for educating drivers to have proper regard for cyclists in his department's new program for the training of young drivers?
Mrs Carnell: He does not know what the program is yet. They have not written it.
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