Page 3818 - Week 14 - Thursday, 10 December 1992
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INDUSTRIAL ACTION
Discussion of Matter of Public Importance
MADAM SPEAKER: I have received letters from Mrs Carnell, Mr Cornwell, Mr De Domenico, Mr Humphries, Mr Kaine and Mr Westende proposing that matters of public importance be submitted to the Assembly. In accordance with standing order 79, I have determined that the matter proposed by Mrs Carnell be submitted to the Assembly, namely:
Public condemnation of the Government's support for the industrial action in the ACT on 30 November 1992 concerning events in Victoria.
MRS CARNELL (3.26): Madam Speaker, it astonishes me how in times of difficulty we can be so divided in this country. Obviously, the pain is not great enough for people to see the need to pull together. Actually, I think that most people do want to do this, but certain union leaders and certainly certain political leaders seem to want chaos. They actually want disruption and unrest. They want to destabilise the workplace. One can only ask: Why? It can only be a raw and blatant lust for power or, alternatively, a fear of losing it. They are not satisfied with the democratic processes, as they probably fear for the very survival of their own positions.
Madam Speaker, it is my belief that ordinary Australians are desperately concerned about one thing and one thing only, and that is jobs. They are not interested in the selfish grandstanding of egotistical union bosses and the government members who seem to have lost the plot. The Federal Labor Government has well and truly sold out its own supporters. It has a leader who would sooner talk about flags and national anthems than jobs. Why? Because their policies have simply not worked and never will. In fact, their policies have driven Australia backwards. Australia now ranks in the bottom third of all OECD countries in terms of income per head, and we are still falling. Until the early 1960s we were close to the top.
As for the ACT Labor Government, it seems to be heading down the same path. Instead of taking leadership in terms of the local economy, it sits back and lets the world roll by. This Government, Mr Deputy Speaker, clearly has no direction, no guts to tackle the difficult issues, no sensitivity to the real needs of people and certainly no sense of priority. I think this was demonstrated once and for all by their support for the 30 November strike.
This Government is demonstrating its ineptitude right across all areas of government. On planning matters it is jealous of the initiatives and drive of private developers. It has no long-term vision or policy for the development of Canberra. On social issues it kowtows to the demands of minority groups on issues such as abortion, marijuana, pornography - and the list goes on. On environmental issues it becomes obsessed with such issues as the banning of circuses. On urban services it is content to run a bus service at an exorbitant cost to the community. On education it keeps underutilised schools open for noisy minorities. On health it has certainly lost the plot. It has lost control of the budget. It refuses to acknowledge the serious and critical problems that exist in health in Canberra. On crime it wants to keep slashing the police force and will not acknowledge the seriousness of the growth in crime in the ACT. On housing it refuses to address the rapidly growing waiting list with any fairness or equity. Most importantly, in this debate, on industrial issues it promotes unrest.
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