Page 5221 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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MINISTERIAL ABSENCES
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MR SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Mr Wood proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
The irresponsible attitude of the Liberal Ministers, Mr Kaine and Mr Humphries, in leaving the ACT and their duties for an excessive period during the recess.
MR WOOD (4.07): Mr Speaker, it is not surprising, I suppose, that the Chief Minister, Mr Kaine, and the Liberal Minister, Mr Humphries, are going away. After the experiences of just a moment ago, it is quite understandable. It is not just the events in the last 10 minutes but the events of the last year that they want to get away from and forget. It is only a few days since we had the note about the first anniversary of this Government. It was interesting that at the time there was no statement - none that I ever found - of the Government's achievements; they did not have anything that they could come out with and say to the community, "This is our record".
Mr Humphries and Mr Kaine would like to go away and forget the internal disarray that they now find themselves in, as evidenced in only the last few minutes. They would like to go away and forget their inability to provide leadership in this parliament and in the broader community and their inability to provide a direction for the ACT. They would like to go away and forget the whole unhappy mess that they are in, whether it relates to schools, or hospitals, or roads, or the inability, for example, to get human rights legislation up, or the trouble with their budget, which is already wrong. A whole host of things have gone astray and they would like to forget about them. We witnessed the events of last Thursday when they could not even sustain their numbers on the floor of this Assembly. Yesterday we saw the Chief Minister effectively censured by one of the committees of this parliament, a committee on which the Government has a majority of three to one.
We have this continuing row between Mr Humphries and Mr Collaery; the row, according to the Chief Minister, that is not a row, and yet we can all read the paper and watch the television and see what is going on. We have the continuing row, evidenced only moments ago, between the Chief Minister and the Speaker. A never ending range of tensions, jealousies and incompetence emerges. I wonder how much the members opposite enjoy their weekly meeting, if it is weekly. I wonder what they think as they walk into their joint party room.
Mr Kaine: It is good fun, Bill.
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