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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (12 November) . . Page.. 4029 ..

MRS LITTLEWOOD (continuing):

Those are very telling words indeed. Mr Lee could see the positives and had the grace to say so, but not those opposite. Mr Speaker, let us look at some more. More recently, an initiative of the Government has been the Feel the Power of Canberra campaign. Did the Labor Opposition say, "Well done; what a good initiative!"? The rest of Australia does not even place Canberra on the map when it comes to relocating or starting a business. We need to increase our tourist numbers. Did the Labor Opposition say, "Great; this may help create some jobs."? No. It does not care about jobs.

What we heard this time was from Mr Corbell. I quote from an article in the Canberra Times of 22 October. He said, "Drop slogan and start again". In the Estimates Committee Mr Berry did not even know what the slogan actually was. That is how much he knows. The article talks about companies which have supported the initiative and have been helped through government industry assistance programs. Mr Corbell obviously has an interest in the issue of business incentive schemes and industry assistance. He has quite a number of questions on the notice paper which, to my way of thinking, are really ferreting about for negatives. Nowhere have I seen any positive comments, let alone congratulations of the Government for its success in this area.

Let us look at the record in this particular area. From the inception of ACTBIS in February 1996 to the end of September 1997, 26 businesses have been approved for support under the scheme. Of those 26 supported businesses, 18 are local firms or joint ventures between local and national or international firms. These businesses are projecting employment of 1,900 people and an investment of $55m over three years. The remaining businesses are a mix of national and international companies with projected employment of over 1,000 and an investment of $16m. Has the Government received a pat on the back? No way. Mr Berry and company find it easier to just whinge.

What about jobs? On a trend basis, total employment in the ACT is above the level of March 1995 by 2,200. We have 2,200 more people employed than we did in March 1995. Do we ever hear that from those opposite? Are they ever positive? Do they ever try to engender some confidence in Canberra? Do we hear about the positives of the Government's job creation schemes? Do the Opposition even know what these job creation schemes are? They are graduate administrative assistants, Volunteering Australia, the Business Development Fund, Youth500, Youth Joblink, the security training program, Active Australia, the annual employment grants program, open access centres, Working Connections, New Future in Small Business, the women's work force development scheme, Trades and Technical Women on the Move, Youth SelfStart, ACTBIS, ACT Supplier Development Committee, Partners in Progress, helpShop fund, events funding for Canberra, the accelerated data collection program, and the trainee ranger program. Do we ever hear a good word about these programs? Of course not. It does not suit the people opposite to be at all positive. They just whinge, carp and be negative.

Even on the new private hospital which is going to create 120 jobs, what did the glorious leader - and I use that word with tongue in cheek - of the new Labor Party say and do? Mr Berry has done his utmost to stop the project from going ahead. Did this alternative government say, "Well done; another 120 jobs."? Of course not. Mr Berry, the pretender for the Chief Ministership, tried to stop those jobs.

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