Page 1842 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 19 August 1992
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MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, in relation to the $3m which has been earmarked for the ACT's better cities projects, I very much welcome the commitment of funds to that program, but I have to say that the projects themselves are still going through the approval process at the Federal level. Once they have been through that process, there is still quite a process of public consultation which also needs to be completed before we could say that the projects are going ahead in this form and in this place. Nevertheless, I think it is fairly widely known that the projects for which we have made a bid are in the North Canberra area and involve a degree of urban renewal and some infrastructure renewal as well. But at this point I have to say that, while the funds have been clearly earmarked for our projects, the exact proposals have yet to be agreed.
The second part of Mr Westende's question was, again, whether we would refuse any person not resident in the ACT access to employment on these projects. The answer to that is, quite simply, no, any more than we would expect to have our ACT residents refused employment in New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania or Western Australia. The day when our residents are refused employment there because they do not live there, Madam Speaker, will be the day when Australia ceases to exist as a nation. It is a ridiculous concept; it is an extremely myopic concept; and it is a concept that really is simply not worthy of a party that says that it intends to govern Australia. What a load of nonsense! If they take this approach, they will be dividing the nation as no other party could ever foresee. I think it is an extraordinary concept that we have heard being put forward repeatedly today by the Liberals - having some sort of border patrol and not allowing people to work in another State.
Madam Speaker, I do not follow the Liberals' line of argument on this matter. It is quite clear to me, Madam Speaker, that people in the ACT who wish to apply for jobs on the better cities projects or on York Park or the Belconnen tax office have every opportunity to do so, in fact have a much better opportunity to do so, if they are here. Certainly, the injection of these jobs into the ACT economy is something which I will continue to applaud. I would not ever seek to do as the Liberals are doing - trying to denigrate this effort on the grounds that we have failed to drop the barriers at the border.
MR WESTENDE: Madam Speaker, maybe the Chief Minister did not hear my question right at the end. I said "as much as possible".
High School Refurbishing
MR CORNWELL: My question is to the Minister for Education. I refer to Mr Dawkins's training and work force skills statement last night in the budget. He stated:
To meet increasing demands, the employment package I am announcing includes $60m to help the States refurbish up to 600 of their older high schools.
I ask: What proportion of this $60m is going to be used in the ACT for this refurbishing?
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