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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 352 ..

Mr Moore: Sit down, Wayne. You were worried about everybody else's time.

MR BERRY: This is just not good enough. All you want to do is create the impression that your mismanagement is somebody else's fault. No. Your responsibility is to put together a budget and to bring it back to this place for debate. You know what budgets will or will not get through. If you were really serious about consultation on the budget process it would have started a year ago. The community in the ACT has tolerated the lie that this was going to be an open and consultative government. Even if you accepted that this was the way to put together a budget in one day, even if you accepted the involvement of the rest of the Assembly - - -

Mr Humphries: Come on, Wayne. You are talking a load of nonsense.

Mr Moore: You are hypocritical, Wayne. You are a hypocrite. You say, "Give everybody a chance", and then you keep talking and keep repeating yourself.

MR BERRY: You had your go. The Government has had its go. The Opposition is entitled to the same amount of time. Mr Speaker, this move to suspend this standing order will be resisted by Labor. On the other hand, there will be plenty of time to debate because there are always extensions of time permitted in this place. There will be plenty of time to make a contribution in relation to this matter. It is just a joke to believe that this approach has any credibility at all. It has none. It is like the lot of you. If you cannot do your job, give it up. There is a bunch of people who are prepared to do it for you. You are not prepared to give up the perks and power, but you want to shift the blame.

MR MOORE (Minister for Health and Community Care) (4.44): Mr Speaker, give me two minutes. I will be very quick. I do know, unlike Mr Berry - - -

Mr Berry: You have had a go. Give Mr Kaine a go. Do not try to dominate.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Sit down, Mr Berry. Be quiet. I call Mr Moore and then Mr Kaine.

MR MOORE: Thank you, Mr Speaker, I will be very brief. We are in the usual position - damned if you do, damned if you do not. We have certainly put out a position here consistent with the recommendations of the Pettit committee, Mr Speaker. I think the select committee that is looking at the report on governance in the ACT, since some people are dissatisfied, should come up with a much better system for doing this. I hope that they will do that by the end of this year so that by this time next year we will know exactly the process we will follow.

This is not the only piece of consultation. This is about the framework in which the budget exists. It is about the context of the budget. We will then bring down the budget. There will be a huge amount of consultation about that, as there is always. There is the Estimates Committee. We have already had the process that Mr Berry talks about. He was chair of the Estimates Committee. They have made recommendations about what happens in this budget. A broad process already goes on. It is a much broader process than in any other jurisdiction in Australia, Mr Speaker, but here is an additional one.

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