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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1370 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

This is the characteristic, again and again, of this Government when they have done no analysis. When they produce some analysis - and they do, occasionally - it always turns out to be something that was done by the Labor Party. It always turns out to be a study that was commissioned under the Labor Party. They do not do any policy work; they do not do any studies of their own. They rely on documents that we have had done, or they just plough ahead with no substantiation at all, Mr Speaker.

The shopping hours issue is the quintessential example of this. There were no studies to demonstrate that this was going to make any difference; no studies to demonstrate any benefits; just, "We thought it was a good idea, and we ploughed ahead with it". That is the history of policy-making under this Government, and that is what has been wrong with this policy all along. Mr Speaker, they have been playing catch-up ever since in policy terms. As Mr Berry pointed out, it was a policy which they always knew was going to be unpopular. Mrs Carnell was the driving force behind this policy. Mr De Domenico was the Minister responsible for the policy, but Mr De Domenico was so spineless about the policy and had so little confidence in his ability to sell a policy that he did not even believe in that it was snatched away from him and given to Mr Humphries, the patsy of the Liberal Party, who gets to sell the things that no-one else will sell. The Chief Minister is now the Minister for Business, but is she the one who is in here explaining why they are backing down on this policy? No; Mr Humphries once again has the job of selling the unsaleable and how they have done a complete 180-degree turn on this policy.

Mr Speaker, this is a policy which they knew was unpopular from the start. They did it to serve an interest group. They have realised that it is costing them in the polls; so they have backed away. The Chief Minister does not like bad news, and Mr Humphries once again has the job of selling some bad news for the Government.

Mr Berry: Where is she? She is not here. She is not facing the music.

MR SPEAKER: You will not be here either if you keep that up, Mr Berry.

MR WHITECROSS: Maybe I should just address some comments about competition which were made by the Greens. The Greens seem to feel that, if we are going to ensure that there is choice in the market, then we have to tip the playing field to ensure that there are players operating in the market who are not actually terribly popular with consumers.

Ms Tucker: Some consumers.

MR WHITECROSS: Well, 3 per cent of people do their major shopping there, Ms Tucker.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Do not interject, Ms Tucker.

MR WHITECROSS: And when you ask people why, Ms Tucker - - -

MR SPEAKER: Do not provoke Ms Tucker, Mr Whitecross.

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