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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2745 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

there were 66 corporate insolvencies and terminations in the ACT, compared with 83 for the same period in 1996 - a decrease of 20 per cent. There are more businesses, more business registrations, more incorporations and fewer insolvencies and terminations. I think that what these figures clearly show is that the so-called "more of the same" - - -

Mr Corbell: How many of those businesses operated in the ACT, Chief Minister?

MR SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, you are warned, too.

MRS CARNELL: The so-called "more of the same" seems to be working pretty well. Those opposite say, "What about the nine months you had prior to that?". Let us have a look at the figures generally. There are now 5,300 more people employed in Canberra than when we took government in 1995, even with the Commonwealth Government downsizing. I think it is a very good outcome.

Mr Berry, I understand, would support us totally, as he has said that jobs are the most important issue for Canberra. We could not agree more. We are keeping up the attack on jobs as the No. 1 issue facing our city; so it will be good to be able to work together with Mr Berry on this important issue, with such initiatives as Youth500 and an extra $4.5m in the current budget for expanded employment, business and promotional programs. Contrast that with the Labor Party's prediction that right now we would have an unemployment rate of 9 per cent. Wrong! We have an unemployment rate of 7.2 per cent, and more successful work is being done to create real jobs in this city. Unlike the ALP, at least this Government is out there and giving it a go and standing up for Canberra. Giving it a go is about taking risks as well. It is about speaking to companies that come to us with good ideas for Canberra. Some of those will be more successful than we think; some of them will be slightly less successful. What shows out here is that there are 7,300 more jobs. The "more of the same" approach seems to be working very well.

Unlike the ALP, at least this Government not only recognise that we cannot rely on the Commonwealth public sector for economic growth anymore but are actually doing something about it, not just whingeing. We have heard those opposite, in the last four days since Mr Berry took over, whingeing about Unisys. I see a question on the notice paper this morning from Mr Corbell about AOFR. They are whingeing about Olympic soccer and all the things that will create real jobs in this city. We will continue to make all efforts to ensure that the focus on jobs and unemployment continues. That means that we have to encourage new companies to come to Canberra and our current companies to expand here. We will continue to work with all parts of the private sector to ensure that that is the case.

MS REILLY: I am glad that the Chief Minister is so interested in statistics. Chief Minister, are you aware that the Australian Bureau of Statistics series 8731.0 released yesterday shows the July ACT trend estimate for dwelling units approved at 87 - the lowest figure recorded in 14 years, in the entire lifetime of the statistics?

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