Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

None . . Page.. 1373 ..

It must be to the great shame of the Liberal Party that the Mitchell-Gungahlin Chamber of Commerce - a group that one would normally expect to find some praise for the Liberal Party - was moved to come out yesterday and quite seriously attack this Liberal Government for its twin failures in Gungahlin. The first is the failure to go ahead with the DELP building - a conscious decision by the Liberal Party to abandon the opportunity to put a sound employment base in Gungahlin, which would have been vital to the private sector there. The second is another conscious decision by the Liberal Party, this time to abandon - or put aside or put off - the development of the police and emergency services facility. Another conscious decision of the Liberal Government, which the Chamber of Commerce did not refer to but which the Gungahlin Community Council is very concerned about, is to put off and further delay the building of the school there.

Mr Osborne, as a Tuggeranong MLA, is legitimately and properly concerned for facilities in Tuggeranong; but he is wrong when he says that, when you compare Tuggeranong with other town centres, it may not fare as well as the established town centres in central Canberra - hence the suggestion to close my local school. It fares extraordinarily well in comparison with Gungahlin, where this Liberal Government has truly turned its back on residents’ needs.

Mr Hird: We have been there two minutes.

MR CONNOLLY: Yes; two minutes, and you have scrapped three projects.

Mr Humphries: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I should indicate that what Mr Connolly said is untrue. The Government is not scrapping any projects, but we are facing up to a very serious budgetary problem inherited from that former Government opposite.

MR CONNOLLY: Which is why you are scrapping the projects, you would say.

MR WOOD (4.10): Mr Humphries said, “We are not scrapping anything; just wait till the budget and we will tell you that we have scrapped it then”. I thought that it was rather rude of Mr Osborne to come in with this matter of public importance today - I agree with my colleagues - because yesterday he voted against the retention of salaried medical officers, a policy which the Government is pursuing and which will threaten, for example, the Tuggeranong Health Centre.

Mr De Domenico: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Once again Mr Wood seems to be reflecting on the way a member voted on a particular issue yesterday.

MR WOOD: You are out of date.

MR SPEAKER: I am sure that Mr Wood would not intend to reflect on any vote which was cast in this house.

MR WOOD: No; that is absolutely the case. I think that we have had definitions that that standing order is not intended to stop debate altogether.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .