Page 1973 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2022
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I brought this motion forward because it made a very important point, which I think went over Ms Lee’s head. The idea of calling for a better way of politics and asking for people to work collaboratively is not a waste of time. If Ms Lee had considered more than just the first point of the calls-on section of the motion, she would have realised that I called on this government to work with all members of the federal parliament to better the interests of the ACT. I have done that because this Federation suffered under the last government. If you have been paying attention over the last few years, you would have seen the states fighting and the commonwealth government picking favourites between the states. By some crazy circumstance the interactions between state premiers are more akin to high school bullying and name-calling than sensible government. We heard the people of Western Australia called cave people. We saw a bill considered in the federal parliament to repeal the Andrews bill, not for all affected territories but for the territories that were liked by the government in power.
We have seen funding decisions about flood relief grants that were not based on merit but on who that electorate voted for. The idea that asking politicians to work collaboratively is a waste of time is obnoxious to me. I think it goes to someone’s understanding of leadership, that they cannot see that that is a problem in this country. I am very confident about the way this government handles itself. This is a collaborative government. So I am quite confident that this government will be able to uphold what I am calling for. The reason I think it is important to call for it is to put people on notice that these are the standards we will hold ourselves to—that if we hold ourselves to these standards, then you should hold yourselves to them as well.
I think it is important to talk about the hard work of government. It is very easy to say that something is a good idea, “Let’s us do that.” It is an election commitment—sweet!—but it takes a lot of work to take the words in those commitments and to action them. It will require work from the ACT government to bring to fruition each of those commitments made by the federal Labor majority government. Thankfully, those are great commitments that I wholeheartedly support. I believe all of my colleagues share that view. I believe that there will be consensus that we should get to work and support this new government in implementing their commitments.
I note that the motion I submitted on Monday is somewhat out of date, and I apologise to members. I can happily confirm that Andrew Leigh MP is no longer likely to be re-elected but officially is elected. Congratulations, Dr Leigh. I can happily say the same about David Smith MP. Like most Canberrans, I will wait on the edge of my seat for the Senate results.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Housing—CSIRO Ginninderra site development
MS LEE (Kurrajong—Leader of the Opposition) (3.49): I move:
That this Assembly:
(1) notes that:
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