Page 5345 - Week 17 - Thursday, 13 December 1990
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I would like to thank the Government for providing a more than adequate supply of slow-moving targets throughout the year. I am most pleased to have participated in an active debate of issues of concern, not only to the Labor Opposition but to the community generally. I hope that they will respect the Opposition for the thrust and parry of public relations with regard to the Assembly's performance.
Mr Jensen: As long as you keep it clean, Wayne, we do not mind.
MR BERRY: We will not keep it clean, but what we will do is make sure that our role in this place is effective in pursuing, in social justice terms, the policies that we went to an election with. I can promise the members of the Government that when we come back with our batteries fully charged the pressure will be applied at an even higher rate.
Alliance Government : Valedictory
MR MOORE (1.07 am): I would like to continue on from Mr Berry, who is going to somehow or other allow his batteries to recharge. Mine are just about there and I look forward to ensuring that over the Christmas period that thrust and parry still continues and that my role in this Assembly, and as far as the community is concerned, still continues.
I think it is most important to re-emphasise what Mr Berry just said about the feelings of the members of the community. Those feelings are not to be dismissed, as I have heard done on a number of occasions in this house, as emotive reactions. The feelings are very deep-seated, particularly the feelings about the concept of the planning of Canberra, as represented in the neighbourhood; about the damage that has been done by the Alliance Government to a school; and, in particular in an area of personal interest to me, about the morale of the teaching staff and the parents in respect of the education system. It has been an absolute disaster and I think it is something that we all are going to have to work at to try to rebuild over the next year.
I still quake when I think of what else this Alliance Government may have in store for the people of Canberra. It is certainly true that a large number of very positive steps have been taken by the Alliance Government, but they are so totally outweighed by the damage that it has done in terms of our health and our education that they have paled into insignificance. The most positive thing that I am aware of is the attempt to bring forward the planning and land management legislation, and I look forward to a very positive debate in those areas.
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