Hoard of state

Dr S.C. THOMAS: [...] The numbers do not add up. I believe this is something that we on this side of the house will find with this government time and again. If we look closely enough, the budget figures just do not add up. There is no doubt that this will be the blow-out era for budget expenditure. There is no doubt that every six months we will have to come into this place and say this is one more project that this government has managed to blow out. We are dealing with appropriation bills for things that were not expected and for which we did not put aside enough money.

Mr D.A. Templeman: Balloons are expensive this year!

Dr S.C. THOMAS: Balloons are expensive. They will be more expensive next year, most likely, because there is a two-year waiting list to do anything. Of course, the government now has more money than it has ever had. It could build nearly anything it wanted. If it wanted to build a space station, it could probably damn near build that.

Mr R.F. Johnson: They are like a load of kids let loose in a sweetshop with a load of pocket money!

Dr S.C. THOMAS: Absolutely. They have this enormous amount of pocket money that they can spend on just about anything.

Mr R.F. Johnson: But not in Hillarys!

Mr D.A. Templeman: Willy Wonka lives in Hillarys!

Mr R.F. Johnson: I get nothing in Hillarys.

Dr G.G. Jacobs: I get nothing in Roe.

Dr S.C. THOMAS: They get nothing in Roe, nothing in Dawesville and nothing in South Perth! The government is probably going to take bits out of it!

Mr M.P. Murray: They will put uranium there!

Dr S.C. THOMAS: That is going to Merredin, member for Collie-Wellington!

Mr M.P. Murray: We will share it around!

Subject: Appropriation (Consolidated Fund) Bill (no. 3) 2005 / Appropriation (Consolidated Fund) Bill (no. 4) 2005 [Legislative Assembly - Second Reading]

Date: 23 November 2005

Hansard reference: pp. 7684b - 7699a [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

Just Greenough

Mr G. WOODHAMS: [...] Beyondblue, the national depression initiative, strongly supports this suggestion that I make. I will quote from beyondblue -

While the rate at which mental disorders occur does not differ greatly between metropolitan, rural and remote populations, the likelihood of professional help being sought is lowest among men living away from big cities.

I apologise for my ringing mobile phone, Mr Speaker.

Mr M.P. Murray: Twenty bucks.

Ms M.M. Quirk: It’s your mum again!

Mr G. WOODHAMS: I think it is Mr Kennett.

A member: I think it’s a point of order.

Mr G. WOODHAMS: It was Mr Kennett, Mr Speaker. The reference to beyondblue was an instant line to him!

Subject: Mental Health Services - Rural and Regional Areas [Legislative Assembly - Grievance]

Date: 31 May 2006

Hansard reference: pp. 3314b - 3317a [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

You know you're going to at least search for him in the contact directory now

Mr A.J. SIMPSON: [...] I also mentioned that people are able to contact me via MSN. The idea behind using MSN was that it was the latest way of getting in touch with people. I can also be contacted by SMS, which is how many kids communicate. It is kind of a shame, because people will probably lose their communication skills by using SMS. The beauty of e-mail and SMS is that one can choose whether to answer a message today or tomorrow. It is not like the phone ringing and having to talk to someone. That is the way kids communicate these days. I thought that if I could provide this service, I might be able to capture more of the youth market as a member of Parliament. It would enable them to talk to me and me to talk to them and hopefully answer their questions. I probably average a dozen messages a week. Some weeks I get a lot and other weeks I get only two or three. I am sometimes asked straightforward questions. One kid asked me the other day about how to get a skate park in his area. [...] After about a 20-minute conversation, this kid knew a lot more about politics, how the system works and how to chase up getting a skate park. He probably cannot vote for me for another four or five years, but that is beside the point. I think he was happy to do that.

Mr A.D. McRae: He would be a Labor voter anyway.

Mr A.J. SIMPSON: I do not know. If he is using the Internet and telecommunications, he is probably more likely to be a Liberal voter.

Mr M.P. Murray: Do you know the difference between a Labor voter and a computer? With computers you only have to punch in the information once.

Subject: Criminal Code Amendment (Cyber Predators) Bill 2005 [Legislative Assembly - Motion]

Date: 8 November 2005

Hansard reference: pp. 6891b - 6907a [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament, msn