Page 658 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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I could say the same in respect of another of my portfolio areas, that of environment. We have good policies on environment in the ACT. I do not claim credit for all those because they have been developed over a quite long period. We are at present undertaking a comprehensive review of all our environment policies to ensure that they absolutely meet all of the requirements of the 1990s and into the next century. We are looking at them, reviewing them and assessing where they work - maybe where they need to work better. We will put that into a whole package. I will be bringing that into this Assembly some time later in the year.
More immediately, I will shortly be announcing, I expect in this Assembly, the appointment of the first Commissioner for the Environment. Very much at the same time, I will be tabling the legislation that will give backing to that commissioner. It is important. There is a Commissioner for the Environment in Victoria but the commissioner we will have here will be so much more important because we are giving that commissioner legislative backing. It will be a more powerful and more significant position than that which applies in Victoria. So that is the immediate step we are taking. We are doing this all the time. It is cumulative; it keeps adding on and on. That is what the Chief Minister has pointed out and what the Opposition has so much failed to see.
MR WESTENDE (4.24): Mr Deputy Speaker, a few weeks ago I spoke in quite some detail about the Government's lack of vision and its lost opportunities; and now, in referring more specifically to the Chief Minister's address on the Government's priorities, I do not have much to add. Quite clearly, the Chief Minister failed to inspire anyone with her speech and none of us on this side of the house, nor, indeed, anyone in the community, is any the wiser as to the Government's agenda.
May I just mention what Mr Berry had to say. Mr Berry derided the business of making profits. I suggest to Mr Berry that if businesses were not making profits they would not employ people. Moreover, where would some of the community organisations in this town be if it were not for the support of the business community? We would not have a Canberra Symphony Orchestra if it were not for the business community; we would have only half a National Gallery; we would not have the Woden Valley Youth Choir; and we would not have the Open Family Foundation, to name just a few. Where would the charities such as the Smith Family, the Red Cross, the Red Shield Appeal, the St Vincent de Paul Society and the Heart Foundation be? I do have some knowledge of business assisting other organisations. The business I am associated with certainly knows its social responsibilities and supports most of the organisations that I have just mentioned. That is why I am very aware of the fact that those people need assistance. I believe that we ought to put back into the community what we take out of it.
Mr Deputy Speaker, some time ago I spoke about the importance of the Government taking a leadership role. It is absolutely essential for business to have some certainty. For business to plan they need to have some certainty. However, with this Government, things are far from certain. It does not have a plan. It does not even have a business plan. Some time ago the Chief Minister criticised my MPI speech on the Government's lack of vision as being narrow.
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