Page 16 - Week 01 - Thursday, 11 May 1989

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .


new administration's program. I congratulate her on that and I congratulate my colleagues on their election. I believe that the actions in this Assembly today will bring about a stable government, an excellent government, a far-sighted government.

I want to separate for a moment the priorities of the administration and speak of the priorities for this historic Assembly. We have not been born in the most auspicious circumstances. It has been a long battle, I do not know when it started, whether it was twenty years ago, but certainly it generated considerable impetus about four years ago. Defining a system - which itself is long and tortuous - was a long and tortuous process.

This is the only parliament that I know of that has people sitting in it, who now share our aims, who do not want to be here and did not want this parliament to be here. So we have problems. I believe that the first task for us as members - and that includes the government, the opposition and all of us - is to show our colleagues out there in the community by the way we do things that this Assembly will work, that it is a good idea, that the enormous amount of work we are going to take in is a necessary factor in our progress.

I want to commit myself, and I am sure that other members will share the commitment, to making this Assembly work for the benefit of all people in Canberra. The Executive has its task. We have the task both to support and to criticise constructively what that Executive is doing. We have the primary task of letting the people of Canberra see that we ought to be here and that the job that we are doing is a worthwhile one.

Motion (by Mr Whalan) proposed:

 That the Assembly takes note of the statement.

Debate (on motion by Mr Kaine) adjourned.

ADJOURNMENT

MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister): I move:

 That the Assembly, at its rising, adjourn until Tuesday, 23 May 1989, at 2.30 pm.

The government proposes this motion for several reasons. Because our financial relations with the Commonwealth


Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .