Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2489 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

The fact of the matter is that this Prime Minister has snubbed the people of Australia by refusing to live in the place of its parliament. The people of Australia deserve a Prime Minister who takes the responsibility of the job seriously. It might be electorally popular for John Howard to bag Canberra from Sydney. It might be electorally popular for John Howard to say that he does not like the weather here and he would rather live in Sydney; that he would rather live in Kirribilli than in Deakin; and that he would rather spend some taxpayers' money on Kirribilli to make it suitable so that he can live there. That is all very fine; but the people of Australia have to understand that this is their Prime Minister refusing to live in the place where his parliament is.

Mrs Carnell: We are not arguing.

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell interjects, "We are not arguing about that". But it seems to me that Mrs Carnell is more interested in diverting attention to the Labor Party than in attacking the Prime Minister, who has abandoned the nation's capital.

Mr Speaker, nobody would criticise somebody for caring about their family. But the fact of the matter is that, when you take on political jobs, the families do pay the price one way or another, whether you are in a city council, a town council or Federal politics. Federal politicians certainly would find it difficult because of all the travel that they undertake from the far-flung reaches; but the fact of the matter is that they knew what they were getting into when they got into politics. When John Howard set his mind on being Prime Minister, he had to take into account what goes with the job. It goes with the job to live in the ACT. If he was not prepared to do that and if he was not prepared to make those sacrifices, he should not have taken on the job and he should give it away now. That is the issue. John Howard should - - -

Mrs Carnell: Wayne Berry tells John Howard to resign!

MR BERRY: John Howard is not fit to be Prime Minister of the country. It is as simple as that. If you are not prepared to take the job seriously and make the sacrifices, you are not fit to be Prime Minister. The same applies to a lot of jobs. Should we make special allowances for John Howard? Not on your life. Billy McMahon did not deserve to be Prime Minister either, as he did not live here. So, Mr Speaker, in my view, this is a serious issue for the Liberal Party - whether they want to insist that they have a Prime Minister who is prepared to take the job seriously or whether they are prepared to accept one who wishes to treat the rest of Australia with contempt. That is what this Prime Minister is doing. Our forefathers went to a lot of trouble to develop the Federation, and it took a long time. That is why this city exists, that is why the parliament exists and that is why the Lodge exists as the official residence of the Prime Minister.

Mrs Carnell tried to make a point about why the Labor Party has brought this up now. It is because nobody else has brought it up in the Assembly. That is the point.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .