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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (2 September) . . Page.. 2747 ..

Ms McRae: And you do not like it, do you?

MRS CARNELL: It shows that that is what they are doing.

Ms McRae: And you do not like it. There is not much you get right.

Mr Kaine: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Would you chuck the chooks another couple of handfuls of wheat to quieten them down?

MR SPEAKER: No, but they may well be cackling outside very shortly.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I do have a sore throat today. It makes it very hard to yell over the top of interjections.

With regard to residential construction, those opposite seem to find Kick Start a funny approach. Kick Start has achieved home ownership for a number of people who possibly would not have achieved home ownership without Kick Start. It shows that, rather than sit on our hands, we will go out there and look for new approaches that just might work. Sometimes they do not work as well as you would like them to, but when the HIA came to us with the Kick Start proposal we thought it was worth a go. I am sure all of those people who have Kick Start loans agree with us that it was worth a go.

Car registration figures have been up for nine months in a row. Unemployment statistics have been down for nine months in a row. Trend figures on retail have been above the national average for the last five months. Non-residential construction was up in that same set of figures. I think it is very unfortunate to quote figures right out of context.

MS REILLY: I ask a supplementary question. In the light of the importance of the indicator contained in the series 8731.0 on residential dwelling units and the fact that it is the first time this indicator has dropped under three digits in the 169-month history of the statistics - and I seek leave to table the paper that relates to that history - - -

Leave granted.

MS REILLY: Is the Chief Minister prepared to take some responsibility for the damage she and her Federal Liberal mates have savagely inflicted on the ACT economy?

MRS CARNELL: There is no doubt that Federal Government downsizing has caused an enormous problem in the ACT; but, rather than whinge and harp about it, we have got out there and done something about it. What those opposite seem to be very keen on forgetting is that a large part of the problem here was the huge surplus of land and dwellings we inherited from them.

Ms Reilly: Have a look at the statistics.

MRS CARNELL: I will. I am very happy to do that. I seem to remember something like 7,600 blocks because those opposite had chosen to sell land to fill holes in their budget rather than to meet the market. When we came to government we ended up with

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