Page 1784 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 May 2005
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we have actually provided for the bushfire recovery, the $40 million for implementation of the McLeod report, the $75 million that we have committed for disability services for the implementation of the Gallop report and the $150 million that we have provided to ensure that our children are protected; it should have been built into the bottom line.
It does beg the question: why wasn’t it in the bottom line, budgeted for in the outyears, in the seven years that the Liberals were in government? Where was it then? Where was the money for the emergency services authority in the Liberal Party’s outyear budgets? Where was the money for disability services? It was just an ordinary incident of government, according to Mr Mulcahy, to budget for these things; it should be there.
What absolute nonsense! What an appalling grasp this shadow Treasurer has on the budget process! It really is staggering in the extreme. We have a shadow Treasurer who actually believes that there was no need for the government to expend these additional resources on protecting our children or providing appropriate services to people with a disability or ensuring that our emergency services were of a standard that we could have absolute confidence in, as we now do.
Mr Speaker, I ask that all further questions be placed on the notice paper.
Personal explanations
MR SPEAKER: Mr Mulcahy, do you wish to make a personal explanation?
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo): Yes. I would like to read into Hansard a transcript of remarks of mine that were broadcast this morning that have been misquoted today. The words were—and these are my words, “There is no suggestion that we’re about to cut the health budget, but what I’ve said is relative to every other state and territory. We should be getting that much more value. We’re, in fact, running over costs significantly for what we’re getting. I’m not advocating a reduction of $100 million. I think the Chief Minister—if you take the trouble to seek comparative data for all states, you will understand your health system is the poorest managed in the whole country, and that’s what we need to tackle.”
Mr Quinlan: Table your presentation.
MR MULCAHY: I am happy to table that, Mr Speaker.
Mr Quinlan: No, the presentation.
MR MULCAHY: I am happy to table the presentation. I do not have it with me, but I am more than happy to table it.
MR SPEAKER: You will need leave to table it. But earlier on, when you sought to raise the matter of a personal explanation, I think you verballed me. I am going to respond to that because you said that at some other time I told you that, in relation to personal explanations, you had to raise them at the very moment an issue arises. In fact, the issue that you raised at the time was whether or not a particular matter was offensive. I responded by saying, “If you find something offensive, you ought to raise it at the time
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