Page 28 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 16 February 1993
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We know that in Mr Kaine's one and only opportunity to do away with it, he singularly failed to do so. In fact, he altered the regime for payroll tax so that most people who do pay payroll tax pay more payroll tax. This is mere cliched hyperbole, with an election in the offing.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I will contend that the Government's priorities, together with our continuing work on the Canberra in the Year 2020 project, which is progressing well, will ensure that as Canberrans we will continue to consider the future of Canberra in all of our government decision making processes. We will continue also to consider it against a very firm vision we have for the ACT. It is regrettable that Mr Westende's comments today have been so very narrow in their focus and that members opposite are the greatest contributors to the despondency that Mr Westende has described to us. If you want any further evidence of that, Mr Deputy Speaker, I put it to you that when I wrote to Canberra businesses on the question of youth unemployment and advised them of what action they might take and how to take it and set up a hot line to help them take it, Mr Kaine criticised me for it. Mr Kaine came out and criticised me for that positive action.
Mr Kaine: You are darned right, because it was nothing but a gimmick.
MS FOLLETT: It was certainly not a gimmick. It has led to a number of jobs being advertised through the CES. It has led to a number of new apprenticeships being offered. It has led to further job opportunities for a number of young Canberra people, which I applaud. Members opposite, of course, would decry that as well, because that is the mood they are in. Mr Westende's comments today are regrettably narrow in their focus and, unfortunately, reflect nothing more nor less than the fact that there is an election looming and he wishes to be very much a part of it.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (4.01): Mr Deputy Speaker, I support Mr Westende's remarks. I point out the subject of this debate:
Lost opportunities: The Government's lack of vision for the ACT.
In other words, the opportunities lost yesterday and the lack of vision for tomorrow. That is what this debate is about. The need for vision in the Government of the ACT has never been greater. The job of creating a self-sufficient national capital is well under way, but the job of creating a vital social environment that suits the people of the Territory and a major urban focus for the region has only just begun.
Despite Mr Keating's claims that the recession is over, we continue to exist in a hostile economic environment, much of which is not amenable to local control. This is Mr Keating's recession. Moreover, the adjustments we are required to make to reduce our expenditures to levels reflecting those of the States, our entry into the States' funding arrangements, the development of a reputation in the forums of the States, and the development of a truly self-sustaining economy are problems that will beset us for the next decade at least.
At the same time, the ACT will continue to grow. The population is growing and will continue to grow at about 2 per cent a year. Consequently, in the next 20 years we can expect to have about another 200,000 people living here. That fact alone will cause problems demanding solutions; for example, problems in planning for the built environment, transport, water, energy supply, waste
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