Page 2285 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
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Business Franchise (Tobacco and Petroleum Products) Act - Determination of fees - No. 18 of 1991 (G23, dated 12 June 1991).
Health Services Act - Determination of fees and charges - No. 16 of 1991 (S45, dated 3 June 1991).
Motor Traffic (Alcohol and Drugs) Act - Motor Traffic (Alcohol and Drugs) Regulations (Amendment) - No. 12 of 1991 (S43, dated 28 May 1991).
Public Place Names Act - Determination - No. 17 of 1991 (G23, dated 12 June 1991).
GOVERNMENT'S DIRECTION
Ministerial Statement
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a ministerial statement on the direction of the Government.
Leave granted.
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, I have no illusions about the atmosphere within which my Government must face up to its duties and responsibilities. I know that all over Australia there are a great number of people who are cynical about the political process. I am well aware that in Canberra this cynicism has reached unprecedented heights. I find it distressing that many people like to pass off what has happened here in the Assembly as some kind of comedy of errors. There is little appreciation of the work that is done by its members.
Mr Speaker, it is no laughing matter. If you care about Canberra, the style and record of recent government in this Territory can only be described as regrettable. There is nothing amusing about closed schools, nothing funny about the money that has vanished into the Alliance's health schemes, and little to smile about in relation to the former Government's plans for the leasehold system. It is my feeling, from talking to local people, that many who are inclined to treat the whole business as a joke are, in fact, deeply hurt about the way that this Territory has been governed.
Mr Speaker, against the backdrop of this episode in the Territory's history, I propose to set out the guiding philosophy of my Government, and outline some of the first steps that I consider necessary for the Government. In making this statement, I cannot pretend that I am going to be able to dispel the views of the cynics. However, it is my intention that, by following the principles that I am about to describe, the record of my Government will give our community greater faith in, and understanding of, self-government in the Territory. Above all, my Government will be a unified team, not a fragile and volatile marriage of
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