Page 2633 - Week 09 - Thursday, 16 September 2021

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entertainment to go back. Car dealers who have worked so hard to come up with a COVID-safe plan are really confused about why cars ordered months ago cannot have contactless collection. Tradespeople who have vehicles in the shop now have to wait even longer before they can get them back so they can get to work, even under the restrictions applied to the construction and maintenance industry.

Mr Davis is all high and mighty and goes on about how we have not done our homework. Maybe Mr Davis should realise that, whilst he was in his nappies, I was sitting at home when my parents’ business was going broke, a seven-year-old, opening the door to a debt collector who came round to our house demanding that he be let in so he could take note of any assets. So before he starts mouthing off and saying that we have not done our homework, he needs to get his facts straight.

Madam Speaker, my motion is about giving our business community a plan and some clarity. It is not just the Canberra Liberals calling for it. Canberra Airport’s Stephen Byron has come out swinging, saying, “Where is the plan that was promised?” Canberra Business Chamber’s Graham Catt has said that Canberra businesses are severely disappointed at the lack of clarity around what a plan is going to look like. We are talking about thousands of Canberra businesses that are pleading with this government to just keep them updated and make sure that they do not forget that these are our fellow Canberrans—our mums and dads, our friends, our neighbours, our grandparents and our sons and daughters—that are doing it tough. For so many, they do not see light at the end of the tunnel.

What I am calling for with my motion, Madam Speaker, is for this government, the Chief Minister, to provide some hope for our business community. We need that hope now more so than ever. These are business owners already on the brink who fear that they will not survive. The Canberra Liberals will not be voting for Ms Cheyne’s amendment. I commend my motion to the Assembly.

Question put:

That the amendment be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Original question, as amended, resolved in the affirmative.

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