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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1281 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

That is something we will not do. We cerainly have not gone down the path of mass redundancies or mass downsizing, for all of the reasons I have said in the past. I do accept, and so does this Government, that the public sector and the private sector - - -

Mr Berry: So John Howard's policies are helping the ACT?

MRS CARNELL: We are talking about our administration, about this house.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The Chief Minister is not responsible for the Prime Minister.

MRS CARNELL: I understand that it would be out of order for me to make comments in this house about what happens in another place, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: It would indeed.

MRS CARNELL: The amount of money this Government put aside for redundancies this year was $12m. Those who attended the Estimates Committee - the Estimates Committee that those opposite did not like having to ask questions at - would realise that we have not spent all of that $12m on redundancies at all. What is interesting, though, is that in previous years quite substantially more than that, in fact up to $17m, had been put aside by the previous Government for exactly that - redundancies. We have here a situation where we have put aside $12m; the previous Government put aside $17m in just one year - - -

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: Mrs Carnell does not seem to have understood the question. I might rephrase it. Will Mrs Carnell - - -

Mr De Domenico: No, there is no point of order, Mr Speaker.

MRS CARNELL: That is not a point of order.

Mr Berry: Will Mrs Carnell accept that John Howard's policies are damaging the ACT and that she has done nothing about it?

MR SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. I am sure that the Chief Minister understands the question quite well and she is answering it as she sees fit.

MRS CARNELL: I am answering exactly the point.

MR SPEAKER: In painstaking detail, in fact.

MRS CARNELL: That is spot on, Mr Speaker. I thought the question was to do with redundancies, to do with small government, and to do with jobs and downsizing. I am now addressing the first issue, which is, of course - - -

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