Page 2570 - Week 09 - Thursday, 8 August 1991
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indirectly, to the people of the ACT; and, of course, all of them are of great value in making our national infrastructure stronger and more efficient; in delivering an end product from all of these enterprises at a lesser cost and putting our total economy on a much sounder basis for the future.
I think that anybody who has not read the communique put out from the Special Premiers Conference should do so because the matters are of such enormous importance to us, as they are to all Australians. The Chief Minister made a statement on Tuesday, which this Assembly properly endorsed, in terms of the Government's approach to these matters. I think it needs to be clear that the Liberals in opposition are very much in tune with what the Special Premiers Conference is aiming to achieve in terms of the national economy and our place in that, and certainly the essential matter to be discussed later in the year, in November, at the next Special Premiers Conference meeting - the removal or correction of this fiscal vertical imbalance so that we have greater control over the raising and distribution of our own revenues. I believe that these matters are of great significance to us.
In October, at the first of these meetings, I put the ACT's position strongly. I know that the Chief Minister and Treasurer did so again, although I do not agree with some of the things that she said. I know that she has a different view about tied grants than I do. But the point is that we are represented at this very highest level in the decision making and the negotiating process in Australia. We have a voice and we put our case forcibly.
As I say, I think that everybody in this house, at least, and people in the community ought to be aware of the things that the Special Premiers Conference addresses; why they are being addressed; what the outcomes are expected to be; and how those outcomes are good for Australia as a nation, essentially, and, in the final analysis, are good for the residents and taxpayers of Australia. I think it is a very important matter, Mr Speaker. I think it does need to be publicised more widely than it sometimes is. It needs to be publicised on a continuing basis rather than just once or twice for two days a year. They are great objectives; they are very significant in terms of the future of this nation and this Territory. I would like to see them aired much more commonly and widely than they have been in the past.
MR COLLAERY (11.09): Mr Speaker, there is much in what Ms Follett said and Mr Kaine said that the community would agree with. There were some aspirations by the original conferences prior to Federation, and particularly the 1897 conference, which spoke about the need to ensure that we developed as a nation. They were then concerned with railways and, in effect, the micro-issues that now seem to us great in the macro environment of transport challenges, and a whole range of other issues. There is much in the
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