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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1240 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

Do we see anything come out of that? No. In fact, the two off-line programs that were running have been closed. Has the Minister done anything about ensuring that those children who come from the most stressed and difficult of backgrounds, who are themselves extremely difficult and very often unpleasant students to deal with, are included; that our system actually deals with them; that some support mechanism is there? No; because this Government has no concern, no vision, no protective measures to say that this is a community for all of us and a community that cares.

What else this Government has indulged in - and you can see it again in the budget papers - is a walking away from its link with the Federal Government. This Liberal Government has to work with a Federal Liberal Government, and all we see is Mrs Carnell and others indulging in self-aggrandisement by abusing Mr Howard. I do not think that is acceptable. I think it is a dishonest and deceitful way to deal with party allegiances and loyalties. It gives to the people of Canberra a message that says, "We will pick on him because it suits us politically; we will pick on him and show up his shortcomings because it distracts from what we are doing and provides us with a way to escape responsibility". There is no escaping. This Government has no direction, has no vision and does not care about the people who live within the ACT. No amount of carrying on that it is all Mr Howard's fault is going to delude anyone. A Liberal government is a Liberal government; a Liberal Party member is a Liberal Party member. To say, "He is a purple one, and I am a green one; and we are different" does not delude anyone. All it does is underscore the paucity of vision and the paucity of genuine concern that this Government has for the people of Canberra.

In the area of planning, we have now seen years and years of non-activity, with, again, no real concern to protect the amenity and the rights of the people living in the poorest areas and of the people most disadvantaged. The planning Minister has done nothing to allay the fears of people who are living within the B1 zone and feel that they are under threat. The Minister has done nothing to ensure that the planning regulations maintain an even spread of land. He goes up and down. One minute he is auctioning land; the next minute he is not. He is not keeping a good eye on the management of that area and, therefore, families and communities are being hit hard by the areas of management of this Government.

In the sporting area, all we see is more and more measures to try to off-load costs, to put the burden more and more on families. We see the Minister take a hands-off approach; the swimming pools are no longer his problem. We see higher and higher charges; we see poorer and poorer management. We see small businesses going out of business because Leisure Australia management will not allow them to operate; and the Minister simply stands back and lets it all happen. There is no vision, no concern, no protection of the most disadvantaged people in Canberra. He pulls a rabbit out of a hat and produces a swimming pool for Belconnen as if it is something new. In the meanwhile, families have to pay more to use ovals; sporting communities are being charged more and more to use facilities; facilities are not being maintained at an even level; and there is absolutely no leadership shown for the sporting communities which are poor and cannot build their own facilities but which have a very large following.

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