Page 4801 - Week 15 - Thursday, 8 December 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, as the Government, I believe that our commitment to providing assistance to unemployed people in the ACT is very clearly demonstrated, particularly by the fact that funding for these programs has increased from $1.4m in 1991-92 to $4.1m in 1994-95. In addition, the Government is committed to working very closely with the Commonwealth Government to ensure that unemployed people in the ACT receive maximum advantage from the Working Nation package. This cooperative approach, Madam Speaker, together with our own programs, I believe, will ensure that those people who do still find themselves unemployed will at least be well placed to compete for the jobs becoming available as the economy continues to grow. I think that is a realistic and compassionate approach. It is certainly not the kind of approach that we hear from people opposite. They have only been concerned to tear down everything this Government does. They have never come up with a single constructive suggestion of their own.
MR DE DOMENICO: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Chief Minister, the ACT's unemployment rate - I am talking about trend figures now, just to compare apples with apples - as at June 1991 was 6.2 per cent. Today the unemployment trend rate stands at 7.5 per cent. Given that you identified unemployment as one of your priorities over the last three years, why should Canberrans now not believe that you have failed this challenge and that unemployed people are now worse off than was the case three years ago?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I said at the outset that the unemployment figures for this Territory are the lowest of any State or Territory. I do not believe that anybody would believe that, alone of all the States and Territories in Australia, the ACT has an unemployment problem. We are clearly facing a national problem and an international problem.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
MRS GRASSBY: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. Is the Minister aware of recent press reports claiming that Australia has a generally poor performance in greenhouse gas emissions? Can the Minister report on the ACT's past record - - -
Mr De Domenico: A blockbuster!
Mr Humphries: A last day special!
MRS GRASSBY: Is there any way, Madam Speaker, that you could keep them quiet?
Mrs Carnell: No.
Mr De Domenico: Not when you are standing.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .