Page 3933 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 October 1991
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However, there will be three new services - from Gordon and Conder to both Calwell Primary School and Calwell High School, and from Gordon and Conder to St Peter's College. So, while there will be a reduction, which has been sorted out in consultation with parents today, many months before the new school year, there will also be new services introduced to service the community in the growing southern suburbs.
BUDGET DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MR SPEAKER: I have received a letter from Mr Kaine proposing that a matter of public importance be submitted to the Assembly for discussion, namely:
The ineptitude of the Follett Labor Government in budget development and management, exemplified in the failed 1991-92 budget.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.07): Mr Speaker, one sometimes wonders, when matters of public importance are brought up, just to whom they are important. I think this is a case when it is a matter of public importance because there are 300,000 people out there who at the moment have some real reservations about this budget which this Government has put forward. People wonder, firstly, whether it is focused on any particular issues or whether it is not simply a grab bag of things thrown together in a hurry; and, secondly, whether or not the budget will achieve any objective at the end of the day. It is therefore very much a matter of public importance, and I am sure that other members of this Assembly will speak at length on this matter.
The budget, of course, is the means by which a government conveys to the community its intentions. It can talk about its policies, and it can speak at great length about what it might do, what it would like to do, or what it wishes to do. But, in the end, what the government intends to do is expressed in its budget. So, I think that, when you examine the question of whether a budget has failed or not, you do not simply wait until the end of the year to see whether the government achieves its financial objectives. That is only one measure, and perhaps the least important, of whether a budget is successful or whether it has failed.
It is now the middle of October and I think it is already possible to judge that, by any practical measure, this budget has already failed. It has failed because of the way that it is perceived by the community. Two days after the Treasurer presented her budget, I - - -
Ms Follett: I raise a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. May I draw your attention to the state of the house, not to mention the state of the media gallery.
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