Page 3472 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 25 November 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Madam Speaker, people on this side of the house have been saying for a long time that we have the simple view that if you get the economics right, in politics, then the politics follow pretty soon after that. I think I am not the first one who has said that. I think there is a very short lag, Madam Speaker, between good economics and good politics, although you would not know that from the way people have approached the issue of policy making in Australia in the last couple of decades and the extent to which they have focused really on politics to the exclusion of economics. I do not say that only Labor governments have done that; I can recall Liberal administrations at a Federal level that have put politics before economics, and that was fatal to them.
This pretty much, in my opinion, Madam Speaker, summarises the approach taken by the ACT Government - politics first, economics second. In the short term, of course, there are short-term sweeteners and let somebody else clean up the mess. If you want to know what happens next, Madam Speaker, you need look no further than Victoria, where the Liberals are now cleaning up the Labor mess. If you do not get it right around the countryside you lose government. The Follett Labor Government's lack of determination this year will be remembered because it was vital that this Government set in train the right kind of economics at the beginning. They failed to do this; they took the easy option for now. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, the price is being paid now in human suffering, with individuals without jobs, families without breadwinners, businesses closing their doors. Madam Speaker, this year was the year of opportunity and hard decisions, and the Government, over the other side of the chamber, has missed the boat on both counts.
I will finish my brief remarks by quoting from the annual report this year of the Canberra Business Council. In two paragraphs, it summed up some sort of vision that perhaps we could all be aspiring to. These paragraphs are headed, "A Vision that can be Implemented". I quote:
It is important that Canberra and the surrounding region soon establish a shared vision for its future that can be understood and accepted by the broad community and is capable of being implemented through the political process.
We need to have the pride and discipline of Singapore, the financial and social skills of the Swiss, the establishment of a common purpose like the Japanese, in an Australian context. All of those incredibly successful island societies or enclaves have used their brains and social skills to harness limited resources for the benefit of their citizens.
Madam Speaker, as I said at the beginning of my remarks, it is very difficult to disagree with what the Chief Minister says about the importance of the private sector. The thing that we on this side of the house say to the Chief Minister is, "The time for talking has now stopped". You had a wonderful opportunity in this budget to actually do something to alleviate the situation that we find ourselves in; you have not done that. We do not believe that you have the policies to enable you to do it in the future. As Mr Kaine has said, we do not have the numbers to oppose the Appropriation Bill, but I am quite happy to second Mr Kaine's amendment and commend it to the Assembly.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .