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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (14 November) . . Page.. 3623 ..

Mr Corbell: This is from the party that cut $1.5 million out of PALM in the last government.

MRS DUNNE: Observations come to my office every day-

Mr Corbell: Ask Brendan Smyth how much money he cut out of PALM in the last government.

MRS DUNNE: Every day when I come in I find a new piece of correspondence-

Mr Corbell: He cut $1.5 million out of PALM.

MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, do I have to stand and take my own points of order? I would like to be heard. The minister will have his time to respond. He will have an opportunity to make a formal response.

Mr Corbell: What absolute gall!

MR SPEAKER: Order, Minister!

MRS DUNNE: I don't have a problem with saying that if we did something wrong we should address it. If the members on this side of the chamber contributed to the deskilling of PALM, I don't have a problem with saying that. We have to face up to it.

Mr Corbell: Well, admit it.

MRS DUNNE: I have said that there is an obvious deskilling in PALM. I don't have a problem with saying, "Let's face reality and let's look forward and make it better."

Mr Corbell: You slashed PALM's budget.

Mr Cornwell: Can we have some order, please, Mr Speaker? We have got a lot of work to do.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mrs Dunne, please direct your comments through the chair.

MRS DUNNE: I apologise. Mr Speaker, there has been an obvious deskilling in PALM. I do not resile from the fact that people other than those in the present government may have contributed to it. But the important point now is to recognise that this is the situation and to move on.

As a personal observation, every day for the past three weeks I have received a complaint about lack of morale in PALM, problems in PALM, mistakes made in PALM. They go on on a constant basis and are a sign of something wrong. There is a constant feeling in the community that we need to do something and, because of that constant feeling in the community that we need to do something, there is general support for the establishment of the Planning and Land Authority.

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