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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2821 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

"You must do this, as a matter of urgency!"-that has a slight ring of irony, Mr Speaker. There is just a slight ring of irony-that we must urgently implement some sane, sensible, financial management and set up some hurdles over which a project must negotiate itself before it is adopted.

Mr Pratt was talking about the V8 car race. I have challenged him once before in this place to tell me just how much he was willing to spend on the car race. I would like to see your cost/benefit financial analysis, Mr Pratt-seeing that the opposition is now embracing a more rigorous approach to financial decision-making. Let us see some of yours. I have done ours, and it does not stack up.

Mr Pratt: Come on, Ted-you have jumped the gun. There was revenue in place.

MR QUINLAN: You were slinging the word "lazy" around, Mr Pratt. I will tell you what lazy is. Lazy is going out, trying to garner popular appeal, when there is a protest on outside, saying, "I will bring back the V8 car race." Back it up in this place with your assessment, and your statement, as to what the opposition would spend on the V8 car race. Either put up or shut up!

Mr Pratt: The government had in place funds whereby they could have allowed the V8 program to continue. You have not given it a chance to live. You have cut it off at the knees.

MR QUINLAN: You tell me. Tell me how much I should have spent. Tell the taxpayers of the ACT precisely how much of their money you were willing to put into it. That is all I ask.

Mr Pratt: You had funding in place to continue the program.

MR QUINLAN: How much of it do you want to sling at the car race? Just tell us that.

Mr Pratt: You could have continued with the same amount of funding.

MR QUINLAN: The same amount-$6 million?

Mr Pratt: The amount that was already appropriated in the past three years.

MR QUINLAN: It burst the budget twice. It started at 2, went to 41/2 and could not make it then. Which level is it-2, 41/2, 51/2 or 6?

I will close by saying I thank members for their participation. I thank the opposition for its commitment to at least vote for the Appropriation Bill.

There is a history, as Mr Humphries said. I well remember 2001. The Labor opposition of the time had voted against budgets. It had done that in the comfort that they would be passed anyway. It was like saying, "No, we will not." Then, all of a sudden, the government was blackmailed by a couple of crossbench members to change. Promptly after that, we went back to the then government and said, "Okay, we will pass it. We do not want your budget to go down because of two people."

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