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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3747 ..

Mr HARGREAVES (continuing):

going specifically to roads. Maybe we will hear about that from the minister when he gets up and continues the boastfest.

I do not think the minister ought to crow about how much money he has extracted from the federal government. In August this year Senator Ian Macdonald announced that the ACT was going to get $27,974,795. That represents 2.12 per cent. Wow, that is heaps!

The minister, through the mouths of other people, is saying what a wonderful guy he is. He is trying to claim the credit for getting stacks of funds from the federal government. Let us have a look at the numbers again. An amount of $1.6 billion was issued for additional road funding. How much did the ACT get? Because of the magnificent intercession of this minister for potholes, we got $20 million, but that $20 million has to be spread over four years. This is another case of inventing a big number, spreading it over a long time and saying to us, "Aren't we lucky?" That does not work. It works out at about $5 million a year.

In fact, the $20 million is only 1.25 per cent. Scribbling furiously on notepaper will not change that figure one bit. It is 1.25 per cent. There is not much point abusing us. The minister ought to be having sharper words with his federal colleagues, because they have dudded him.

It is going to cost $7.7 million to duplicate Drakeford Drive between Taverner Street and Isabella Drive. When will that be? That will come some time down the bitumen track. It costs about $3.2 million to do one kilometre of new road. So what is this government crowing about? The rest of the country gets $1.6 billion. Our slice of the cake is $20 million over four years. You would expect that the ACT budget could pick that up. It does not mean much over a four - year period.

Mr Hird said he hoped that Mr Stanhope had the backbone to make sure we get a fair go. I do not call 1.25 per cent of the cake a fair go for the people, let alone the 2.12 per cent in untied funds. That is an admission of rank failure on the part of this minister.

This motion is a silly political stunt to make the minister look good, which has failed, or to make the government look good, which has failed too. I cannot see what good it will do. Nobody in this chamber finds it satisfactory when people bag the ACT. I wish in my heart of hearts that Mr Smyth would grow up and stop trying to copy the Gary - ing technique of the Chief Minister. He does it so badly that he looks stupid. He ought to save himself the time.

If we have one thing in common in this chamber, it is our abhorrence of attacks on the ACT. That is not on. We have all joined in our expression of distaste of the Prime Minister for rejecting his own national capital. We have all gone into the public arena and criticised people of various persuasions when they have bagged Canberra in the media. We have all expressed our distaste at the utterings of Jeff Kennett when he was bagging Canberra. It is known that the Labor Party across Australia does not have anywhere near the record the Liberal Party has for bagging Canberra. I go on the record right now as saying I excuse no - one.

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