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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (9 April) . . Page.. 805 ..

MR BERRY (4.30): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I note that Government members opposite did criticise the current Government and other governments for the impact of their actions on the Australian Capital Territory. I will defend the Labor governments because I think there was never a Labor government that would have tolerated its Prime Minister not living in the Lodge in the ACT. In turn, that sent a very strong message to the rest of Australia that this place meant something. There was never a Labor government that despised the Public Service, and that was well known across the rest of Australia and throughout the Public Service.

The Prime Minister of Australia under the last Labor Government lived in the ACT, not only when he was Prime Minister but before as well. That Prime Minister had a commitment to the Federation and was not caught up in a time warp, as is the case with the current Prime Minister. Mr Howard has behaved disgracefully, and the Liberals opposite are correct to criticise him. What they do not criticise him for is his indifference to the company, if you like, in a company town, that is, his consistent expressions against the public sector and, therefore, Commonwealth public servants. The end result, of course, is that the company town suffers, and that is not surprising. It has been a quite deliberate action, and it was in the wake of an act of deceit. We were promised before the last Federal election that no more than 2,700 jobs, I think the figure was, were in question in the ACT. That was a lie, was it not? We are looking down the barrel of 10,000.

Mr Corbell: It was 2,700 across Australia.

MR BERRY: Yes. I am reminded that it was 2,700 across Australia. We are looking down the barrel of 10,000 in the ACT at this stage. Let us not forget the other promises either - the promise to build a museum at Yarramundi Reach and so on.

There is no question about it that Prime Minister Howard has inflicted serious damage on the Australian Capital Territory. I read in the Canberra Times the other day a comment from Peter Reith in relation to the ACT, when he was being interviewed by a journalist about the Government's approach to the Territory. I think his throw-away line was, "Well, they did vote Labor, didn't they?". In other words, "We are going to punish them for voting Labor". That is the sort of approach we have seen from the Federal Liberals. They want to punish their detractors, and that approach continues to impact on the Territory. It has to be continually highlighted, and to the extent that the Carnell Government has highlighted that they are to be congratulated; but the pressure needs to go on and stay on.

I heard those opposite, in particular Mrs Littlewood, talk about the Andrews Bill. We have all expressed a view about the Andrews Bill and how it makes us less equal than the rest of Australia and so on. It reminded me of the opportunity Mrs Littlewood missed in relation to the euthanasia debate. When she was taking up her position here, she made it pretty clear that she was pro-euthanasia; but when it came to the crunch she missed the opportunity to increase the pressure on the people who looked like supporting the Andrews Bill. Had this Assembly passed the euthanasia Bill, I think that would have amounted to double pressure on those politicians up on the hill on both sides of the parliament. I cannot forget the huddle in this place when it seemed, certainly from my vantage point, that a number of people from the Government were trying to persuade Mrs Littlewood to exercise her conscience in one way or another.

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