HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Member Index
House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-06-16 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

MAGILL TRAINING CENTRE

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (15:25): My question now is for the Premier. Does he agree with the recommendation of the 2005 Select Committee on the Youth Justice System, or does he agree with the Treasurer that the Magill Training Centre is not a high priority? The parliamentary select committee report of July 2005 on the youth justice system states:

The select committee strongly recommends that the closure of the Magill Training Centre be an immediate priority.

Yet the Treasurer said publicly on 12 June 2009, 'They are in there because they have been a menace to society.' He went on to say, 'I can say this to you, I have higher priorities.'

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (15:25): One of the things that the honourable member does not realise, because he has not been a minister, unlike the Leader of the Opposition during the time of the Fahey Commission of Inquiry, is that being in government does not mean promising a stadium for anyone who comes in the door or promising them anything that they want to hear; it is about making tough decisions.

The fact that during a global financial crisis we could bring down a budget that got a AAA credit rating out of America and out of Australia is a recognition of competence. Of course we would like to live in this parallel universe that the Leader of the Opposition does where he thinks that he can promise everything to anyone who comes along and that suddenly it will be raining from heaven.

The point is that, just as he gets caught out on statements that he makes and the veracity of those statements, we, meanwhile, have to get on with the tough job of making tough decisions, and that means that you have to establish priorities. Establishing priorities means that sometimes you have to make decisions that you do not want to make. It is called being responsible, and being in government, and putting the general public interest first.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT