Page 1173 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 22 August 1989
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The fact is, Mr Speaker, that this Government is already under siege in its first 100 days, and the people cannot be wrong. Something is wrong. The Rally is deeply concerned about why it finds itself after a mere 100 days, which includes a relatively short number of sitting days, with such distaste for some aspects of this administration and such disappointment for some aspects of how the Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, has proceeded to treat it.
I think one measure of that is that since 11 May I have probably not had, as leader of the Residents Rally, one discussion about policy in private with this Chief Minister. Not once has the Chief Minister consulted me about any issue, any speech, any decision - - -
Ms Follett: Bernard, that is not true.
MR COLLAERY: She has not consulted me about any decision that we were going to take in the areas of importance. I am happy to stand corrected. If there have been times when the Chief Minister has consulted me, then the Chief Minister has the chance in reply to enumerate those. They do not come to mind.
We added up the number of press releases this morning in the Rally office and we came up with a total of 250 pages, some of them back-to-back, but 250 raw pages. The Chief Minister has issued 81 pages of press releases and copies of speeches; the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education has issued 79 pages; the Minister for Housing and Urban Services, 72; and our dear friend, our unassuming Minister for Community Services and Health, 18. We congratulate the Minister for Community Services and Health on his dedication to the forests of Australia.
Mr Speaker, those 250 pages will be a monument to those 100 days. There are some people in the United States who like to be buried with their motor cars and other items around them, and one presumes that the members opposite us are preparing their folders.
Mr Speaker, the other issue that really disappoints the Rally is that of standards being set. I find I have the same popularity poll as Mr Whalan. This of course, Mr Speaker, is of deep concern to me and, I am sure, to the rest of you. If this is the manner in which this Government wishes to bring about brotherly love and affection, then I am quite concerned about how we determine those issues.
There are some things that surprise me in my early days in politics, and they include the difference between political comment and sheer mischief. My colleague Mr Kaine referred to the setting of standards and the real issues of good government. One issue stands out in my mind, and that is a press release by the Deputy Chief Minister, dated 9 August 1989, in which he used these words - and I will not labour the point:
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