Page 3144 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Le Couteur): Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HARGREAVES: And it takes me 35 seconds—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: One moment, Mr Hargreaves.
Mr Hanson: This is largely an incoherent ramble. I would ask you to call on Mr Hargreaves to come to the point, which is to address this particular line item in the budget.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Hanson. Mr Hargreaves, I do invite you to address yourself to the budget.
MR HARGREAVES: I thank you for the invitation, Madam Assistant Speaker. Sometimes I will take you up on your invitations but I am going to close now because I am going to relieve you of the speakership. However, I have to say that it is nice to be back. It only takes me two minutes and there is some idiot on their feet saying, “Point of order, point of order.” They cannot help themselves. They sit there and they trawl through the Community Services part of the budget, trying to find something wrong. They dredge through it all; they have not got a clue.
I listened upstairs to the Greens’ contribution to the debate. It was mixed with criticisms and bouquets, and I think that is the way we should be behaving ourselves in this place. If there is something in this budget which is good, how about we say so? If there is something in there that is not quite as good, okay, fine, say so. But do not spend your whole life sitting there and trawling through stuff, trying to find something wrong with it. They are practitioners; these people have a PhD in the art of miserabilism.
Madam Assistant Speaker, I am ready to take the chair back. And that was just to wake you poor people up.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (12.44 am): Madam Assistant Speaker, it will be hard to follow that speech, but I will try.
Mrs Dunne: I think “speech” is overstating it just a little.
MS BRESNAN: Possibly. One of the key issues I will look at in speaking to the budget is disability. The government provided some key themes through the budget and the estimates process regarding disability—that it had identified disability as a priority area and was working to keep up with demand and that the national disability insurance scheme, it was hoped, would eventually be established and assist in funding this area. I know there are many people hoping that the scheme does get established and will aid in funding the disability area.
The Greens are concerned about three issues in particular in the disability portfolio. These areas are the increasing demand for housing options for people with disabilities who have ageing parents, the lack of clear accreditation for disability services, and limited hours of support that people with disabilities receive during the week.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video