Page 706 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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CHIEF MINISTER FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY QUESTION
Question No 172
Priorities Review Board Recommendations
MR WESTENDE - Asked the Chief Minister upon notice on 21 May 1992:
(1) Are the recommendations contained in the Priorities Review Board report of May 1990 being considered by the Government as a means to achieve savings.
(2 If yes, how significant would this be in terms of the
level of savings that can be achieved.
(3) If no, why would the Government ignore such a well
informed document when consultation is so important.
MS FOLLETT - The answer to the Members question is as follows:
(1)-(3) The Government is not considering the recommendations of the Priority Review Board.
As the Member may recall, the report of the Priorities Review Board was criticised on its Release by the then Labor Opposition and by a significant cross section of the Canberra community.
The report was widely seen as a blinkered ideological exercise which advocated reduced services to the community, cuts in public sector employment conditions, and the privatisation of many Government activities. It provoked substantial opposition in the community, particularly in relation to recommendations on school closures, and was the subject of the largest protest meeting held since self-government.
As a result the former Alliance Government gave up any attempt to systematically implement the recommendations in the report. The former Chief Minister, Mr Kaine, also made it clear in answer to a question (Hansard, 20 November 1990, pp 4323-9) that many of the Boards recommendations had been specifically rejected by his Government.
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