Page 431 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 2 March 1994
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Mr Cornwell: Yes, and they do not pay taxes.
MR WESTENDE: They do not pay local taxes. What we want is not words, but actions. The Chief Minister talks on page 5 about business and having to go overseas, as follows:
I believe that local business confidence is growing and the time is right to market the ACT aggressively in ... international markets.
One of our problems is that we cannot be competitive on international markets because we have such a small home market. In the ACT especially we have a very small home market. Why not give those businesses an opportunity to expand, an opportunity to grow? You will find that that will create the money you need to give to other causes.
MR KAINE (4.51): Every time I read one of these statements by the Chief Minister, and over the last three years she has made a number of them, it takes me back 20 or more years to when I was in the service. There were two people who were well known in those days. One was an airman who was called Gunner because he was always "gunner" do something but he never actually got around to it. The other one was a senior officer who was called Robinson Crusoe because he was going to do everything by Friday. At least he was usually only a week away from his target; the Chief Minister in these statements is years away.
I do not have to go any further than her statement here about the problems of the ageing. The Chief Minister says that they are placing a high priority on caring for the aged this year. They placed a high priority on caring for them last year and the year before that. What have they done? Absolutely nothing. What are they going to do in 1994? They say, "We are going to closely examine our role. We are going to investigate issues of concern. We are going to develop strategies. We are going to review our policy framework". So we are going to examine, we are going to investigate, we are going to strategise and we are going to review. Nowhere here does the Chief Minister say that she is going to do anything in 1994, and, of course, she does not intend to.
When you start talking about examining and investigating and reviewing and the like, the Chief Minister already has the advantage of two comprehensive reports from this Assembly's committees over the last three years which comprehensively spell out the needs of the ageing. She has had, of recent date, a detailed budget submission from the Council on the Ageing that again spells out in very great detail the things the Government should be doing to satisfy those needs. They have already defined the needs of the ageing. They do not need to examine and strategise and investigate and review. They know what the needs are and they have told the Government what they are. We do not see any of that here.
When does the Government intend to do something about Jindalee? When does the Government intend to do something to get those 40 disabled and handicapped young people out of aged people's hostels so that 40 aged people can get into hostels that were designed for them in the first place? When does the Government intend to do something about a convalescent unit so that ageing people who have to leave hospital and have nowhere else to go can recover before they are thrown out on the street?
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