Page 588 - Week 03 - Thursday, 15 March 2007
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It was very, very instructive. Pat Barling, with his association, gave the minister a chance this morning to reverse that decision. He gave the minister a chance to stand up there on a truck and do that—and all power to the minister, by the way, for being out there, finally turning up to listen. Pat Barling and the volunteers gave this minister a chance today to reverse the decisions which have damaged the services. They were prepared to jump back in their trucks, drive off and carry out their service if the minister had done that. But what we saw instead was a minister tied to very poor decisions—of course with the vulture of the Chief Minister standing in the background making sure that Mr Corbell did not go weak at the knees. That chance was given to the minister to change his decision, and he did not do that.
Mr Barr: I didn’t see you stand up in front of the crowd, Steve. I did not see you stand up. Where were you, Steve?
MR PRATT: Well, you must have been out the back. He did not do that. So what have we seen today, on the basis that the minister was not prepared to reverse that decision? The captains of the brigades and the SES units stepped forward and put their car keys and their truck keys into a bucket. Many of the captains stepped forward and pulled from their pockets prewritten resignations—but only after the minister failed to come to his senses did they sign on the spot and present their letters of resignation.
Of course, in the spirit of volunteerism and their love for community, this does not mean that those volunteers are not going to put out a fire if a fire starts today. But they were resigning from the ESA as we now know it. They were resigning from the emergency services as we now know them—the emergency services that have been restructured and ruined by this minister. A brand-new commissioner should have been ministerially oversighted by this minister, but he was not.
Mr Stanhope: You want ministerial interference—when it suits you?
MR PRATT: Mr Stanhope and Mr Corbell should now be rightly proud of themselves because they are now the owners of an elephants graveyard. Out here in this square we have a bunch of trucks and vehicles which should be back in their sheds and on standby to respond to protect this community. This minister and this Chief Minister should now be proud of this elephants graveyard. It is yours, Jon—look after them, look after them! This is the outcome of your boneheaded decision making, based on bureaucracy, bean counters, bureaucratic jealousies—and no consultation with your volunteers. You are a bloody disgrace; you are a disgrace. This is the outcome.
Mr Stanhope: So who do you want to run the authority? Who do you want to run the authority? The minister?
MR SPEAKER: Order, Chief Minister!
MR PRATT: I will get to that, Chief Minister. I will answer that in chapter and verse in about three or four minutes.
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