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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (23 November) . . Page.. 2473 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

There are taxi owners all over Canberra thanking Mr De Domenico for his approach to these things! There will be people paying their money at the tips, driving all the way to Belconnen because Ainslie Transfer Station is closed, thanking Tony De Domenico for his decision-making! There will be people finding that the books they were expecting to find in the library are not there and that the services like story time are not there. They will be thanking Mr De Domenico for that too, because of the brilliant planning, the brilliant decision-making, that characterises his custody of the Urban Services portfolio!

MR CONNOLLY (11.24): Mr Speaker, it is necessary for someone from the Opposition side to get up and respond to Mr Moore's earlier comments, after Ms Follett set out our position. Mr Moore got up here and talked about being offered the nibble from the apple and how tempting it was. But, of course, he would not do it, he said, because if they did that and exercised their perfectly proper right to say no to a line item and forced the Government to go away and reconsider - not a motion of no confidence in the Government, because there is a specific way to do that - "Gary told me the Government would resign, so I could not possibly do it". When you go out big-noting yourself to the education unions and the nurses unions and every other group, you say to them, "Of course, I could have voted against the budget - - -"

Mr Moore: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Order! I remind you people, as I am sure you have forgotten, that we are discussing Division 80, Urban Services.

MR CONNOLLY: Yes. When he goes out and explains to the library groups why he allowed the cuts in the library services to go ahead - library services, urban services; both, Mr Speaker - he will say, "Well, of course I had to do it because Gary threatened to resign if I did not. I could not upset Gary". What a spineless effort from Mr Moore! Not only had he flagged in advance - - -

Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I think we will have to charge him with overacting. In fact, what Mr Moore was trying to say was that the alternative of having Mr Connolly as the Minister was so terrifying he could not tolerate it.

MR CONNOLLY: So not only has he said in advance, "I'll huff and I'll puff, but I won't blow your house down because I pledged in advance that I would vote for your budget", he has ruled it all out, even where we have made it very clear that all we are saying is that, if he is serious about saying to this Government, "Go back and rethink", he should exercise his vote on the line item or even adjourn a line item. If you are fair dinkum when we come to education, Mr Moore - - -

Mr Osborne: What about an amendment?

MR CONNOLLY: We cannot breach the law, Mr Osborne; but, if you are fair dinkum about this, you can either vote against that line item or adjourn that line item and then go in and have some serious negotiations with the Government. They treat you like little poodles. They treat you like little lap-dogs, the little lap-dogs that will go yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, but will never bite. Despite the yap, yap, yapping that Mr Moore is doing to the various lobby groups, he has pledged that he will not bite and he will support the

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