Land Tax

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:37): Supplementary: will the Treasurer confirm that he will be the Treasurer—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, I would really like to hear the supplementary, from your own front bench.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: Assuming the Treasurer survives his high sugar diet, will he remain the Treasurer until the next state election?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (14:38): Can I assure the honourable member, who might be interested in my high sugar diet, that I will never—willingly, I should say (unless, I guess, a specialist decides for me otherwise)—give up the high sugar diet: the donuts, the chocolates. The Myer Food Court will remain a staple of the Lucas diet for so long as I exist—vertical, breathing and capable of undertaking the job I have been asked to do.

These decisions are decisions for the Leader of the Liberal Party of the day. We do not have collective caucus decisions in relation to who serves in respective positions in the Liberal Party: they are the decisions and the prerogative, as they should be, of the Premier of the day. We serve willingly for so long as the Premier of the day has confidence in each of us to continue to undertake the task. For so long as I am serving, I will have to drag myself in on a daily basis to question time, to the merciless onslaught led by the Leader of the Opposition on a daily basis in this chamber.