Page 2798 - Week 08 - Thursday, 24 August 2006
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Mr Seselja: A lot like you.
MRS BURKE: Like you, exactly. You have just epitomised it. You have it in a nutshell. Well done!
Mr Mulcahy: You walked into that one, Jon.
MRS BURKE: Absolutely. It is very embarrassing, isn’t it? Jokes aside, Mr Deputy Speaker, the Chief Minister is so embarrassed. How will he face these parents with students who have a disability? I do not quite know what he ends up saying to them, but I would think he is feeling very embarrassed. As for Mr Barr, I think he has just been landed a real crock to deal with. But then, as the Chief Minister said: “This will make a man of you, Mr Barr. This will prove you. This will show you are a good minister.” Is that what you said, Mr Stanhope? I am sure it is.
I will sit down now because I have made my point. I have said my piece and no matter what we say, no matter what your council says, no matter what the community says, you are not going to listen, anyway. But this is on the public record and you will be judged by what you have done this very week.
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo) (2.58 am): Mr Deputy Speaker, I am conscious of the fact that the hour is late and I am sorry that the officials and staff of the Assembly obviously have to work these late hours along with the members, but for a budget line item that represents somewhere about 20 per cent of the total territory’s expenditure—
Mr Barr: It is 24, actually.
MR MULCAHY: Well, I am rounding, minister. It is a significant—
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Mulcahy, can you resume your seat? Order! Mr Stanhope, if you are going to interject, which is against the standing orders, can you do so less frequently with half the volume at least? Mrs Burke, can you stop antagonising these people? And I want Mr Mulcahy to be heard. I call Mr Mulcahy.
MR MULCAHY: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. As I indicated, such a significant percentage of the ACT budget does warrant a deal of comment. The issue of education, of course, has been one of the most hotly debated issues since the ACT budget was handed down. When we look at this Towards 2020 document, I reckon the vision for the minister must be a bit like hindsight—20-20 vision now—because he knows what he has been tipped into and he is probably thinking, “What did I do to deserve this? How peaceful life was when I was a staffer to John Hargreaves and let him wear all the flak.” But now he has been thrown in at the deep end.
A lot has been said since that budget was brought down on this highly contentious section of the government’s plan for the territory. We have heard many interviews with Minister Barr, who has stepped into the hot seat so adeptly vacated by the Deputy Chief
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