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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1257 ..

MR WOOD (continuing):

(c) the Belconnen Indoor Pool;

(d) the visual arts access facility;

(e) the extension of Ginninderra Drive to Northbourne Avenue;

(f) the duplication of Drakeford Drive north of Isabella Drive;

(g) the extension of the cycle path network;

(h) the expansion of the Landcare, Parkcare programs, especially for weed control;

(j) the refurbishment of run-down local shopping centres; and

(k) the renewal of outdated playground equipment.

Mr Speaker, in this Assembly in recent days we have heard the Government, and particularly the Chief Minister and her deputy, going on at great length about the need for optimism in this Territory. They want optimism in the face of very destructive policies for Canberra on the part of the Federal Government. It is the Opposition's view that simply talking about optimism is not enough. The Government has to do something to tell the ACT community, and in particular the private sector, that it is going to give a lead; that there is reason to be optimistic.

The current budget was not framed in the circumstances we have today. At the time that that budget was brought in last year, the Opposition disapproved of it. It voted against it. But the circumstances have changed rapidly, markedly, since that time.

Mr De Domenico: You would approve it now, would you?

MR WOOD: No. Indeed, that budget is even less appropriate now than it was when it was introduced. The significant change is that we now have a Federal Liberal Government whose policies are even more restrictive and recessionary than this Government's. It is simply not appropriate for the ACT economy today to have two governments each bringing very severe and negative impacts to the Territory. It was unfortunate that we had the one government, the ACT Government, doing that. Now that we have the Howard Government promising all sorts of dire outcomes for the Territory, the problem gets to a critical point. We cannot have two governments doing great damage to this Territory.

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