Page 1953 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 May 2009
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Opposition members interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, members!
MR BARR: with the position being put by each of the shadow ministers. So the media—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Stop the clock, please. Resume your seat. Would members of the opposition please be quiet. We have only got one minute and 23 seconds, and we would like to hear the rest of what Mr Barr has got to say.
Mr Seselja: Just on your ruling, Madam Deputy Speaker.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: My ruling is that I would like you to be quiet.
Mr Seselja: I would like to make a point in relation to your ruling, Madam Deputy Speaker, if I could. The Speaker has, on a number of occasions, particularly at question time, ruled that when members are provoking those opposite they expect some comeback. Perhaps you could ask the minister, if he does not want us to speak, maybe not to provoke us.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Continue, Mr Barr.
MR BARR: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am always happy to take the fight up to the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party in 2009 have no coherent ideological position in relation to economic management. They are all over the shop, walking on both sides of the street. It is all about “spend more money”. Each of the shadow ministers says, “No, spend more money in my portfolio area,” yet their two key economics spokespeople are out there trying to suggest, “No, what needs to happen is more expenditure restraint and the budget needs to be brought back into surplus quicker.”
The challenge to our dynamic duo tomorrow is to put their money where their mouth is, to outline to the Assembly their plan. If they believe that the budget should be brought back into balance quicker, they should outline where they would cut expenditure and then take out the back each of their shadow ministers who are on the public record calling for more money to be expended and show them a razor gang, to show them some budget discipline and to show them the benefits of economic efficiency and microeconomic reform, because the Liberal Party has failed on all counts. (Time expired.)
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability and Housing, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Corrections) (11.21): I am reminded of sideshow alley at the show. You go down the alley and there are all these clowns, six of them, lined up with their mouths open and waiting for someone to pop something in.
Opposition members interjecting—
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