Page 3209 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I have never liked Henry VIII, being the absolute republican that I am. These are the sorts of pet hatreds that Stephen Argument and I have shared for many a year and I would like to pay tribute to him.
In the context of the public accounts committee, I would also like to pay credit to the secretary of that committee, whom I believe to be the best committee secretary that I have experienced in my 15 years here—that is, Dr Andrea Cullen. She has the uncanny ability, with a self-effacing approach, to read the minds of three people and put it together in a cogent report. I doubt whether the three members of PAC could put together a cogent report individually, let alone collectively; yet Dr Cullen is able to do that. That is a rare talent and something this Assembly is privileged to have.
Turning to the Weston ponds report, I noticed that all of Mr Seselja’s contribution was that this particular government has been plagued with incompetencies and inefficiencies since the day it was born in 2001. I might just remind members, however, of what the scorched earth was like prior to 2001. There was some allusion to that particular time frame when we talked about former Chief Minister Kate Carnell’s contribution around Bruce stadium. But we did talk only about the painting of the grass green. The actual sin was not about the painting of the grass green. The sin was about the over-expenditure of $60 million on the project for what was essentially a stadium. It was not exactly something to the benefit of the general community, but for a specific one. In fact, I was decrying it because it removed the possibility of playing AFL on that particular ground and people should be condemned for all time for doing that.
However, quite seriously, we forget that in terms of management of projects it was those opposite, in fact, that allocated $32 million for the Gungahlin Drive extension in those days. It was going to stop at Belconnen Way; it was not going to continue past that. So to suggest that it was going to have two lanes was absolutely ludicrous, because you can get a slip lane for $32 million and not much more. How they were going to deliver it on time and on budget is beyond me because they could not possibly do it.
We also had the “feel the power” process that people may remember, and it was on the number plates. We got panned and we got ridiculed nationwide for that. I got belted in Perth, I got belted in Adelaide and I got belted in Melbourne because it was a stupid thing to do. If you are going to represent your community, you should at least do things which are not stupid, and this one was stupid.
I thought that was the end of it, but no, it was surpassed, in fact, with the investment—I think it was $100,000; it may have been two—to paint that very slogan on the side of a World War II aircraft. It was supposed to fly over the skies of Canberra with “feel the power” written on the side of it. But lo and behold, it never got off the ground, and neither did the slogan, properly.
We need to be reminded of some of these things. We talked about that great project, the blowing up of a hospital. That worked. That worked for me; it did not work for anybody else. What, blowing up a hospital? What part about that was a good idea? There was nothing about that that was a good idea.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video