Page 3013 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 5 December 1989
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MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.57): Mr Speaker, I assume that, by their remaining seated, the other members of the Government do not wish to speak, or, if they do wish to speak, then they are refusing - - -
Members interjected.
MR KAINE: I have sat quietly, Mr Speaker, while other members have said their piece, and I would appreciate it if they would do the same for me. I can assume only that, if they do have something to say, Mr Speaker, they are ignoring the advice that I gave to the Deputy Chief Minister this morning, that we on this side of the house would follow the normal convention of speaking alternately. If they are playing some funny game, their integrity will go further down the hill in my estimation than it is now.
Mr Moore: You can give advice; they don't have to take it.
MR KAINE: You have got a big mouth. You need to close it occasionally.
Mr Speaker, the business of deposing a government at any time is serious indeed and is not to be undertaken lightly.
Mr Moore: You can do better than that. It has only started for the next two and a half years.
MR KAINE: Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Moore!
MR KAINE: Since he does not choose to do me the courtesy of listening, I will start again. The business of deposing a government, Mr Speaker, at any time is serious indeed and is not to be undertaken lightly, and I do not take today's proceedings lightly. There has been some comment in some sectors suggesting that the majority opposition should not be moving against this inept minority Government. It is obvious that this has been part of the Government's campaign to unsettle the participants in the majority opposition and to try to build up community opposition to the inevitable. The Government's policy has failed, and the increasingly united opposition that you see here today has been the result.
The Government would be most unconvincing, Mr Speaker, if it expressed surprise at the move against it. As Liberal leader and Opposition leader, I have consistently stated that I saw it as my obligation to take government when the circumstances dictated. No opposition leader, Liberal or Labor, would sit passively when convinced that a government of the opposite party was both a minority government and an ineffective government. Circumstances now exist in which a majority of members of the Assembly have come together to form a new government. This has occurred because the members have become disillusioned by the Government's lack of performance.
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