Page 2091 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
for less cost. People opposite continue to say, "Oh, it is too dry", "It is too wet", or whatever. Reality hurts most of the time, Mr Deputy Speaker. While other States and Territories, of both Liberal and Labor persuasion, have realised finally that we need to look very seriously at the way we spend taxpayers' money, this Government is prepared to sit there and do nothing. It is prepared to sit there and do nothing because it does not want to upset some of its mates.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the Chief Minister should have realised that Canberra has the capability to be an economic model as well as an aesthetic one. Disincentives to business in the ACT should be closely examined. What do we do, and how do we do it? Mrs Carnell has provided the alternative. There is no doubt that, under the Government's own costings - Mr Moore mentioned benchmarking studies - - -
Mr Lamont: Where? What alternative? Where is it?
MR DE DOMENICO: Under the Government's own benchmarking study, for example, for ACTION buses - - -
Mr Lamont: Where is it? Where is Mrs Carnell's alternative?
MR DE DOMENICO: The Government has recognised that there needs to be about $38m per annum worth of savings from ACTION buses alone.
Mr Lamont: Mr De Domenico, where is the alternative?
MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Lamont keeps interjecting. Mr Lamont should leave the chamber and go upstairs and get a copy. Perhaps he will cease interjecting at the same time.
There is no doubt that over a three-year period, as Mrs Carnell has quite rightly said, there is the potential for at least $28m worth of savings from the ACTION bus network alone. Madam Speaker, there is the possibility of even providing free student travel and still making those savings. Once again, if the Government is interested in all those costings, once they receive all the paperwork I am sure that they will realise that that is able to be done. But it needs courage, and it needs foresight, vision and a plan. We must sit down around the table and realise that unless we start restructuring some of our utilities we are going to go along the same path and do nothing. At the end, our children and our grandchildren will be left to foot the bill.
Mr Connolly, when he was here before, very early in the piece, was waxing lyrical about AAA ratings, what Access Economics were saying, and all sorts of things. Had Mr Connolly had the time to sit down and listen carefully, and had he understood what Dr David Chessell had said, he would have realised what the truth is. Dr Chessell and other commentators have said that this year the Follett Labor Government was saved by the generosity of the Commonwealth Government.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .