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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (11 November) . . Page.. 3948 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

The futsal slab - what an icon! - is now claimed to have contributed $3m to the local economy. The futsal slab, the rarely used eyesore on the lake - - -

Mr Humphries: The one that only Labor MLAs go to?

Mr Whitecross: We did not have to kick anyone off.

MR BERRY: That is right; we did not have to elbow anybody out of the way when we went around there and used it yesterday. There was plenty of space.

Mr Humphries: You did not have to kick anyone off - except non-sitting Labor candidates.

MR BERRY: It does not cost anything to book it. It cost $300,000, plus ongoing management costs. The futsal slab is a $300,000 justification for the Chief Minister's trip to Brazil. It has rarely been used and it is considered by most Canberrans an eyesore and a white elephant. Maintenance costs will accrue, of course.

The period of this Government has seen an amassing of wrong priorities, which is indefensible. There is nobody who can defend this Government's performance. It has been a disaster for the ACT. It has taken us into recession and has led to more unemployed than when Mrs Carnell came to office. This Government has been a disaster.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member's time has expired.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (4.53): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I did not hear anywhere in Mr Berry's critique, which is probably a nice way to put it - - -

Mr Hird: He is leaving the chamber.

MRS CARNELL: But he always does. I did not hear anywhere in Mr Berry's critique of the Government's priorities that he actually mentioned jobs. Did he mention jobs anywhere? Apart from redundancies, did he mention jobs? I do not think that he mentioned anywhere how he might actually create jobs or how he might get the economy moving.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, there are four essential issues facing Canberra, at least for us on this side of the house. Those are employment, especially for young people, but for everybody; economic development; environmental integrity; and, of course, ensuring that we have an advanced education, health and welfare sector. Those have to be the bottom lines for this city. The reality is that that is what this Government's priorities are, and our approach to our policy direction deals precisely with each one of these areas.

A key priority has been to get our own house in order. We have done this through our industrial agreements and through other innovative approaches to senior management employment. The downsizing of our Senior Executive Service by something like 33 per cent has resulted in a saving of about $1m. We have maintained education funding in real terms. We have increased the funding for health; but not by $80m. At the same

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