Page 2022 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 8 September 1992
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not only to people already in small business but also to those wanting to set up a small business. We have also established a second business incubator at Kingston. Again this is of assistance to small business and people wanting to get a start in small business. Mr Kaine has conveniently overlooked that.
We have encouraged additional building work through removing the requirement for permits and approvals for minor building works, and we have established a task force on Commonwealth-ACT projects to provide the sort of cooperation and coordination on public sector development projects that we believe is needed to get them going quickly. I know that the Liberals opposite do not like public sector major projects. They have pooh-poohed that whole idea. I believe that we must see a real partnership, real cooperation, between the public and private sectors in the ACT to ensure our economic future. Madam Speaker, we have also launched a program to promote Canberra as Australia's communications and computing capital. That program has met with some success and again, of course, Mr Kaine has conveniently overlooked that. I believe that it is important for Canberra to develop and to grow as the Australian centre for communications and computing, and I am prepared to put effort into promoting that, unlike Mr Kaine.
Taken as a whole, I believe that those initiatives represent a major commitment to the development of employment growth in the ACT. It is real action which we are taking, not just empty rhetoric, which is what we got from Mr Kaine. I believe that these projects, Madam Speaker, will provide lasting employment. They will be good jobs for people. Of course, we recognise the assistance given to the ACT by the Federal Government's recent budget. I think that this is a comprehensive record of achievement and I would like to reiterate the point that I started with: The greatest thing you can do to promote social justice is to promote sustainable quality employment for everyone in your community, and that is what Labor is doing.
I would like to go through some specific social justice matters, touching, in particular, on the target groups that we believe need assistance to achieve social justice. First of all, Madam Speaker, the ACT Discrimination Act which was passed in November 1991 was introduced by a Labor government. I know that it is embarrassing for the Liberals opposite, but the fact is that they were in government for 18 months and they were unable to bring this legislation to the chamber. That is a fact. I know that it is awkward for them, but it remains a matter of record that it was the Labor Government that introduced that legislation. It makes discrimination unlawful on a range of grounds, including race, disability, religion and gender, and it operates in a wide range of areas, including employment, education, access to buildings and places, the provision of goods, services and facilities, the provision of accommodation and club membership.
Madam Speaker, we have established the ACT Human Rights Office. It was long needed in the ACT, and is operating very well. It is promoting an understanding of the Act and a degree of compliance with that Act which I believe is necessary. Madam Speaker, we have also promoted social justice through the provision of a social justice worker who is outposted to ACTCOSS, the Council of Social Service. The main focus of her work for this year is proposed to be on working towards a social justice budget - a document which will be provided for the ACT and which will allow us, I think, to better understand and better document the achievement of social justice in our Territory.
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