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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 992 ..
MR HARGREAVES (continuing):
possible", I was told. Twelve months. Then, blat, Mr Speaker, b-l-a-t, they appeared miraculously. Why it was not possible long ago, Mr Speaker, remains a mystery to me. I know it was possible, they said it was not, and yet it materialised. I hope that we do not get such a stupid comment from those people ever again. It is possible and they ought just admit it and say they do not want to give it to us for whatever reason. Let us have the truth instead of smoke and mirrors.
Mr Speaker, I think more than 12 to 17 firefighters ought to be recruited. I think you will find that they are about 30 members down. I believe that we can have a recruiting process which will put that number of firefighters on within the existing budget because at least $1m existed in the base budget, and nothing will convince me otherwise. It has been appropriated by the Emergency Services Bureau and applied elsewhere within the bureau. It exists within that portfolio, within that bureau. It was taken from the Fire Brigade. The Fire Brigade is now in need.
MR SPEAKER: The member's time has expired.
MR HARGREAVES: I ask for a small extension, Mr Speaker.
Mr Humphries: We agreed that we were not going to have any extensions this afternoon.
MR HARGREAVES: I recall other members having quite a number of them, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Is leave granted? Let us get on with it.
Mr Hird: Yes. Only a short extension.
Leave granted.
MR HARGREAVES: A short extension. Thank you. Mr Speaker, I have said enough about the Fire Brigade. I want to say that I was particularly concerned about the de-funding of the Women's Legal Service, the Environmental Defender's Office and the Welfare Rights and Legal Service. If you look at the chart for legal aid, Mr Speaker, the budget went up this financial year over the last by $324,000. However, the Women's Legal Service dropped $39,668. The Environmental Defender's Office went from $23,000 to nothing. For the Welfare Rights and Legal Service it went down $7,258. Why they should go down, I do not know. The Women's Legal Service provides support services to some of the most disadvantaged people in our society. These are the women who suffer domestic violence. These are the people who have nowhere else to turn. We were not given any explanation as to where these people go to access these services. There was none of that.
Mr Humphries: You did not ask.
MR HARGREAVES
: I will ignore the stupid remarks from the Treasurer. In fact, Mr Speaker, there were questions. Mr Humphries ought to go back and have another look. On top of that, we should not have to ask when something as draconian as this is
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