Page: 17195
The Hon. RICK COLLESS: Will the Minister for Industrial Relations explain to the residents of Maitland, Northern Tablelands and Tamworth electorates why they cannot, by the time this House resumes in 19 days time, receive funding for the $48 million Bucketts Way upgrade because of mismanagement by the Government that has led to a $3.17 million a day increase in the WorkCover unfunded liability—a liability that the residents of this State will ultimately have to pay for?
The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: I said to the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that the Opposition is on a hat-trick. We have just heard the third in the sequence of stupidity from the Opposition today. I will not take too much time of the House for such a fatuous question given that I have answered it twice already. I remind the Hon. Rick Colless of my answer to the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition: WorkCover is not a budget organisation; it is funded by the premium payers of this State, who are employers obliged to take out workers compensation insurance. When Coalition members had the chance to do something about workers compensation they did nothing. A few months ago they could have voted for major reforms of the dispute resolution system. The premium players who have to make good the deficit will have to pay because of that and they know that Coalition members let them down. They also let down the injured workers and the industry of this State. I would have thought that the Hon. Rick Colless would not have been so silly as to go along with being put up to doing something so stupid as to repeat the mistake made by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Opposition in the same question time.