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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 5 Hansard (8 May) . . Page.. 1733 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

better results for people. It would be spending more money on outcomes-outcomes that provide real benefits to the people of the ACT, its community, and its economy.

In my early speeches on the budget, I talked about the need to broaden the revenue base, not just raise taxes. It is obvious that, if we are to be sustainable, we must broaden the base. The Treasurer has spent at least $600,000 on developing an economic white paper that will come to the same conclusion.

The way forward for the ACT-the way to drought-proof the economy of the ACT-is to use the proceeds of what is left of the land asset and invest it. I do not mean investment in banks-it will not be invested in hotchpotch initiatives. It will invest in the people of the ACT, in developing their creativity and unleashing their potential.

We will invest in developing education in real and systematic ways, not only on the basis of reading, writing and arithmetic-although they are important. We will also promote the creative and artistic potential of young Canberrans by fostering and developing the creative potential of our youth so that this creativity feeds into every aspect of our community.

We will invest in developing early intervention programs in health, which this government seems to have abandoned. We will use the investment in creativity to develop new markets, starting with restoring our relationship with South Africa and China-markets which have been shamefully neglected by Labor. These markets will grow new businesses. We will develop new industries, such as the film industry. I am glad to see that that industry is picked up in the white paper.

A Smyth Liberal government will recognise that the ACT is different and that sometimes, to succeed, it will have to behave differently from other jurisdictions. My public liability reforms, for instance, stand alone. No other jurisdiction has suggested this approach, but that should not stop us-it can stand alone. We did so with workers compensation, and that is working.

Our business taxes are the same as New South Wales. How can we compete with business if this is always the case? We must change. A Smyth Liberal government will change the business taxation regimes so we can compete and attract business-not only from surrounding New South Wales, but from around Australia and the rest of the world.

People will ask, "What would a Smyth Liberal government do?"We will not delay and we will not prevaricate. We will not delay important projects like the prison, the convention centre or the Gungahlin Drive extension. This Labor government does not make decisions-a Liberal government will. We will not spend more money to get less, as this Labor government does.

This Labor government cannot manage money. A Smyth Liberal government can and will be sustainable. This Labor government has no vision-it has no plan for the future. The Smyth Liberal opposition has the vision to take it into government and to secure Canberra's future.

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