Page 3014 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 5 December 1989
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Mr Moore referred earlier to a grab for power. Mr Speaker, the Labor minority Government, of course, did not grab for power back in May. Their motives were and are, of course, pure and beyond reproach! They did not negotiate with the Residents Rally or anyone else, did they? How can they now pretend to claim the moral high ground when it comes to talk about grabbing for power and playing the numbers game? It does not impress me, and it does not impress anybody else.
Mr Speaker, today's no-confidence motion in the Government has been put before the Assembly because of one simple matter, and that is the Government's inability to address the crucial issues that face the ACT decisively. As a result, we have seen a progressive deterioration in the Territory in all respects over the last six months. The Government's budget strategy has failed to address our major problems. It has not come to grips with the deficit spending situation inherited from the Federal Labor Government. It has not addressed the urgent need to reduce the cost of government. It has failed abysmally to recognise the importance of the private sector and its expansion for future jobs for our children and our future revenue base. The Treasurer has proved totally incapable of providing a balanced and effective budget for the ACT.
This minority Government has relied heavily on empty Federal promises of funding. We have seen $22m put in a hollow log because Mr Hawke and Mr Keating have thought the ACT Government too immature - and perhaps they were right - to handle these public moneys, despite the current financial difficulties in which the Territory finds itself. As a parting gesture, and presumably as an attempt to head off today's events, the Federal Government has decided to hand over $7m of this money to Ms Follett. Well, it is too little and it is too late.
What we have seen is a continuous budget saga that has been going on for months, and you could hardly say that it has ended yet. Despite the fine words, we have had a government that has presented the image of uncertainty and indecisiveness both in developing a budget and in managing it. I cite the hospital fiasco as a classic case of somebody who has not managed the budget.
The entire so-called consultative process, of which the Government has been so proud, has been an absolute failure. You do not have to ask me; go and talk to people out there whom the Government claims to have consulted. It appears to have been the action of a government that wanted somebody else to make all the hard decisions for it - "We can't make the decisions. We'll go and consult somebody, and they can tell us how to do it".
It is this Government, the ACT minority Labor Government, that should have taken responsibility for the efficient and effective running of this Territory. The Government simply
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