Page 394 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 2 March 1994
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MS FOLLETT: I thank Mr Lamont for the question, Madam Speaker. It is the fact that support for the Hilmer report at the Council of Australian Governments meeting last week was national and it was bipartisan. The conservative governments right across the nation joined with the Labor governments - the Commonwealth, the Queensland Government and the ACT Government - to express their support for the reforms that were recommended in the Hilmer report. It was in stark contrast to that, Madam Speaker, that Mr Kaine, when he was asked for his opinion about it, could find nothing positive to say about it at all, but only perceived these reforms as resulting in governments wasting money as States competed against each other. Those are virtually Mr Kaine's own words.
Mr Kaine: I note that you said "virtually".
MS FOLLETT: I will read out what Mr Kaine said, Madam Speaker. He said:
... the Chief Minister's now talking about competition between the States.
That is not what I was talking about. He continued:
I think there's an inherent danger in that you'll find all sorts of public money, both at the Federal and the State level, being poured into some artificial competition so that it ends up costing more than it needs to.
It is pretty clear to me. In saying that, Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine has put himself very firmly at odds with his Liberal colleagues across the rest of the country, and also very firmly at odds with Mr De Domenico, who put out a press release on the same day urging me to adopt the micro-economic reforms advocated by the Hilmer report and supported by the Prime Minister and all other State Premiers, the Northern Territory Chief Minister - and the Chief Minister of the ACT also, Mr De Domenico. They are, unfortunately, very much at odds, just across the way here, and at odds also with their colleagues interstate. Mr Kaine does seem to be out of step with those colleagues, as I say, and, as the Opposition treasury spokesperson, he has failed to understand the very nature of the national competition policy and the benefits that it can bring to all jurisdictions.
Madam Speaker, the States and Territories will not be wasting money to compete against each other, as Mr Kaine seems to suggest. On the contrary, the States and Territories are aiming to save money, and particularly to save money for the consumers in their own jurisdictions, as we are in the ACT. They will be aiming to save money by being able to buy the goods and services they need from the cheapest source, without artificial constraints on that marketing. They will be able to trade freely in the goods and services that are produced. That will not only benefit the national economy; as a Territory and as a consumer only of things like gas and electricity, this Territory aims and stands to benefit as well. I think it is an unfortunate example of the Liberal Opposition being out of step with the rest of the nation, and, worst of all, out of step with each other and showing yet again their tendency to shoot from the lip and say whatever occurs to them, no matter how asinine, once they are on air. Madam Speaker, I can put to rest the concerns that Mr Kaine may have raised.
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