Page 3460 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 September 1991
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Rescue Services
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Attorney in his role as Minister responsible for policing in the Territory. In view of the fact that his Cabinet colleague Mr Berry has had a longstanding interest in the fire brigade - in fact, industrially as well as empathetically - can Mr Connolly give us an unqualified assurance that he has not conceded in his caucus a transfer of police rescue functions out of the north side of Canberra, as was negotiated, to the fire brigade?
MR CONNOLLY: As is often the case with some of Mr Collaery's questions, it is a little hard to understand what he has in mind. The short answer is that there has been no government decision on the transfer of police rescue functions from north Canberra. Given that there has been no government decision, there is hardly any likelihood of any caucus concessions or whatever Mr Collaery was talking about.
It is basically symbolic of Mr Collaery's understanding of government, which we witnessed for 18 sad months, where government proceeds rather like a fight between two pit bull-terriers or, in fact, four pit bull-terriers, with Ministers at one another's throats all the time, abusing and insulting each other through the media and elsewhere, making decisions through a process of public leak and attack and character assassination, one on the other. The extraordinary sights we saw of Mr Humphries and Mr Collaery - - -
Mr Collaery: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker: Relevance.
MR CONNOLLY: He asked about our decision making process. I am contrasting our decision making process and the relationships between the Minister for Health and me with the obvious decision making lack of process and the relationships between the former failed $6m blow-out Minister for Health and Mr Collaery. The short answer, of course, as I say, is that there is no decision on transfer and hence no possibility of the extraordinary conspiratorial suggestions that Mr Collaery makes.
MR COLLAERY: I have a supplementary question, in response to the Attorney's answer. Will the Attorney indicate whether the review of the policing arrangement, referred to in Budget Paper No. 5, at page 126, will not include a review of the arrangements signed between the police and the fire brigade? He is getting his instructions at the moment, Mr Speaker, so I will wait.
MR SPEAKER: Please proceed.
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