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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2292 ..

MS MacDONALD (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I will conclude now by saying that I thank my government colleagues for working cooperatively on a budget which delivers results for the whole of Canberra. I certainly want to say thank you to my Labor Brindabella colleagues, who have worked so hard to secure a slice of the 2002 budget pie.

A secure present and future has been gained for the Brindabella community. They now have better sport and recreation facilities. They also have better transport, education and health. A greater sense of security has been delivered to Brindabella. This is a great start for a first budget. I look forward to securing even more sustainable initiatives, infrastructure and services over the rest of the term and beyond.

I commend Mr Hargreaves' motion to the Assembly.

MR PRATT (5.09): Mr Speaker, I have listened to the self-aggrandisement exercise by the Brindabella ALP party machine occurring on the other side of the chamber.

The ALP talks about transparency in government. We have not seen that at all, and indeed the residents of Brindabella have taken a kick in the you know where when it comes to rego, parking and conveyancing. My Brindabella colleague, Mr Smyth, has already listed the many other broken promises and bits and pieces that the ALP are not going to be able to deliver to the residents of the gorgeous valley of Brindabella.

Mr Speaker, I will pick on just those three-rego, parking and conveyancing. We will remember those all through this budget year, to see what action transpires. Will there be action, or is this simply words? Ms MacDonald talked about 20 policemen. That is not correct-effectively, there will be seven policemen. If this is the way the representatives of Brindabella are paying attention to detail, God help the residents of Brindabella!

I will conclude by saying that this budget is not good news for the residents of Brindabella. They have been caught by issues which were not transparently discussed. This will not be a good day for the folk of Brindabella.

MR HARGREAVES (5.11), in reply: Mr Speaker, I would like to pick up a couple of things that have been said in the debate so far. I will start with Mr Pratt, because it is really fresh in my mind. He talks about transparency. The voters in Brindabella underwent a big transparency exercise. They looked straight through the Liberal Party because there was nothing in the middle of it to see. Mr Smyth, to his credit, got the greatest number of primary votes in Brindabella, but I will come to that a little later.

MR SPEAKER: You will not, if you are going to adhere to the standing orders.

MR HARGREAVES: No, Mr Speaker, I am not going to abuse the standing orders at all. I just wonder sometimes whether Mr Pratt knows where Brindabella is, and how far it is from Isaacs to the border.

I will not refer to Mr Pratt's contribution to the Brindabella electoral result, because there was none. I will not refer to his contribution to the people of Brindabella, because there has been none. Perhaps like Gunna Gary over there, he is gunna get around to it. We look forward to that.

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