Page 640 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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Now, after all these statements in his strategy, he comes up with nothing at all about economic development in the Territory at a time when it is most needed. You can pore through the figures in the budget strategy and in the budget itself, and there is nothing there. That is where he sits condemned - and "sits" is the word, I think. He is not here at the moment. That is where this Government has failed in what we would all agree is the prime area for activity in Canberra - promoting the private sector, expanding that private sector, providing assistance to it, providing the climate where development can occur and then the climate that will provide the jobs. He has failed. The words that he said came to nothing. Worse than that, we got the reverse of it.
Let me go back to that point I made about encouraging national bodies to locate in Canberra. It was a promise of his in only March 1990 - a year ago - and what is the policy that seems likely to be established, if it is not already established? No, we will not encourage national bodies into Canberra; we will put an impost on them. I can think of one national body that would like to come to Canberra, that would bring national arts groups into a centre, and it is not going to be able to get very far. So, Mr Speaker, the Chief Minister does not back up the words that he uses. We wish he would, because there is so much that could be done.
We acknowledge that the jobs on which our young people depend rely on the private sector and the economic health of this city. These are difficult times, but there is much that this Government can do. There is a great deal that the Government can do, if it would turn its mind to it. The Government needs to stay home during the holidays. It does not need to go into recess for almost two months, among other things. The Government was not here; there was no government in this place for two months, effectively.
Dr Kinloch: I never left the Territory.
MR WOOD: As you point out frequently, you are not part of the Government. The Government comprises these four people who sit on the front benches.
Dr Kinloch: I would not agree with that. That is not true. The Government is the 10 of us.
MR WOOD: That is another debate. But it is a fact that two members of the Government were out of this town, and that effectively stopped any government action for nearly two months. That says it all. That is the reason that none of these plans they like to talk about are actually happening.
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