Page 2620 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 24 August 1993
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This is three years after the seniors card was introduced and it is typical of this Government. It claims all of these things to be its own, when it has made no contribution whatsoever. She does note this, for example:
The seniors card continues to make a significant contribution towards reducing living costs and encouraging active lifestyles for seniors ...
I agree and I am glad I introduced it. A holder of a seniors card in fact got free bus travel during Seniors Week. That is one contribution that this Government made. I do not know that it was a completely new thought, but the Government did make its contribution. Then, on page 8 of the Chief Minister's important speech about the seniors, she said:
This Government has a strong commitment to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of age. To this end, the Government will shortly make available for public comment a discussion paper which deals with age discrimination legislation.
Indeed they did. Within a week Mr Connolly tabled a discussion paper on issues and options for age discrimination in the ACT, and that paper said that public comment closed on 31 May. We are nearly towards the end of August, and what has come out of it? Absolutely nothing. The public consultation phase ended three months ago. This is another important government initiative that has come to absolutely nothing. Where is this Government going in terms of the aged? It is good to talk about it and it is important that we have a ministerial statement; but let us not do anything, for heaven's sake!
Again claiming credit for things that are not theirs, the Chief Minister said:
In December 1992 I tabled in the Assembly the first report of an important strategic planning process for Canberra.
That was the first report in connection with the 2020 study, and who initiated that study? Ms Szuty. She is not here, unfortunately. This was another of those non-initiatives of this Government as well, but the Chief Minister was claiming responsibility for it. She then went on to eulogise this 2020 study, saying that it identifies the opportunities and the needs presented by the growth of the ageing population, and so on. This was another claim for something that was not an initiative of this Government. It just goes on and on. Having mentioned all of these initiatives, none of which were the initiatives of this Government or this Chief Minister, she said:
I have given a brief picture of some of the current developments under this Government ...
None of them were developments under this Government, but she said that these were only some of them. Where are the others? The fact is that there are no others. The Chief Minister then went on to display just how bereft of ideas this Government is. She claimed responsibility for a seniors painting exhibition that was mounted by non-professional senior artists, not by this Government.
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