Page 25 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 16 February 1993
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People are being ignored when they should be encouraged. It is "everyone for himself" instead of "united we stand". The problem is that we cannot see the wood for the trees. We are not taking the longer view of a recovery. We are going to have to act together and work extremely hard to come out of this recession. We are going to have to work harder and get less, rather than the other way round. When fortunes change, then and only then can we talk about rewards.
The Government has clearly been sidetracked from tackling its main task. It has concentrated on social issues such as abortion, animal welfare, marijuana and a host of minor legislation. Instead of clearly pursuing its own agenda, it has allowed Michael Moore to take the running. The social issues are undeniably important in themselves, but the greatest social issue is unemployment, and the Government has left it in the too-hard basket. Last year for the ACT Government was a year marked by lost opportunities, and I challenge the Government to make 1993 a year marked by vision and boldness to turn around our local economy and establish an exciting and viable region in which to live.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.46): Mr Deputy Speaker, that was a very disappointing address from Mr Westende in that it represented nothing more than a party political address on behalf of the Liberal Party, even to the extent of using the same metaphors as in the current Liberal Party election campaign material. I wonder whether it is the same speech Mr Westende was to use when he first raised this issue some two months ago. If that is the case, it speaks very badly for any idea of vision by those opposite. Mr Westende has not put forward any vision. I would have expected that he would do so.
If I could put very briefly my own vision for the ACT, it is social justice, environmental protection and prosperity. It is my view that the Government's achievements in all those areas ought to be commended by those opposite. Instead, what we get from Mr Westende is a litany of woes, mostly related in the narrowest possible way to his own business. What a load of nonsense! What kind of vision is that? He throws in a quote from Mr Kennedy to try to give it some sort of statesmanlike gloss. It does not work. As I said, it is the most narrow of objectives that we have yet seen in this Assembly, and for that reason I find it very disappointing indeed.
Mr Westende referred to pessimism, the lack of cohesion, and the knockers in our community. All I can say is that he is one of them. There are many positives in the ACT economy and the ACT community, but those opposite are too hypocritical or have their heads buried too much in the sand to ever be big enough to comment upon them. It is a fact that our unemployment figures in the ACT, for instance, have remained consistently well below the national figure. I think that is a cause for optimism. It is a fact that our employment has grown substantially - by over 8 per cent - in the past year. I think that is something of which we can be proud as a community. The fact that our unemployment rate in January this year was less than it was in January last year is something we should be pleased about, but you never hear a single word of approval from members opposite. If the business community, supposedly the allies of the Liberal Party, are depressed, what are you doing about it?
Mr De Domenico: What are you doing? We are not in government; you are. You have done nothing.
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