Page 239 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 1990
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supporters with respect to its performance. Let me remind the Leader of the Opposition what was reported by a respected finance editor on 27 September 1989:
The ACT Government has painted a generally gloomy picture of the outlook for the ACT economy in the year ahead in background papers issued with the ACT Budget today.
Rosemary Follett said, in her budget speech:
Following years of strong growth, the ACT economy is now not performing as well as the rest of Australia in areas such as employment growth, retail sales and levels of activity in the construction industry.
You simply put a motion on today to contradict yourselves again. You cannot competently draw, even grammatically, a motion that can be of substance to assist the people of the Territory.
Clearly, Mr Speaker, this Government has a great chance to forge a new political model in this Territory, and we are doing it. The Alliance Government has no intention of attacking the disadvantaged groups. If you can get those groups to come out and say that we are, half your luck, because the fact is that they are realising that, from the prompt and immediate action that we are taking, we are interested in their situation after eight years of neglect and we are not going to attack them; we are not going to reduce welfare to the position in which it has been left for us - no way in the world.
Community groups have no fear of any ideological persuasion against us. It might interest the members of the Opposition to know that on these issues I have a Treasurer who is sympathetic to the welfare mess, who has spontaneously taken initiatives to ask me to look into welfare concerns in this Territory. You have constantly tried to run an ideological line that, because he comes from the Liberal Party, he is anti-welfare. I do not think we will benefit - - -
Mr Berry: "Anti-worker", I said.
MR COLLAERY: I know that you are afraid that our Alliance Government will set up a model that will bleed your Labor Party to death because we will put you to shame, and you know it. We are starting to see in Australia comments upon the nature of our Government.
Mr Berry: Just another conservative bunch of tories.
MR COLLAERY: I challenge the next speaker to define what "tory" means. In deference to the times allotted, Mr Speaker, let me say that there are so many inconsistencies in the propositions put forward by the Opposition today
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