Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (20 November) . . Page.. 4408 ..

MR STANHOPE: I made the point that it was a government that lacked intellectual honesty, and it certainly was. There was much to be undone after seven years of Liberal government. We had to undo the enormous damage that was done to the credibility of this place and to public administration in the ACT. We had to undo the enormous damage that was done as a result of fiascos such as the one that surrounded the construction of Bruce Stadium and the many breaches of the law revealed by the Auditor-General in relation to the construction of Bruce Stadium.

These were issues we had to deal with. There has been much repair work to be done over the last two years. We have been extremely busy doing that. As the Treasurer mentioned yesterday, along the way we just happened to have converted the ACT into the jurisdiction with the most powerful economy in Australia. This is reflected in the latest Business Review Weekly publication, where it says that the ACT now ranks as the strongest of the jurisdictions in Australia.

Mr Stefaniak: With the dopiest social justice laws.

Mr Smyth: But you haven't issued your wallpaper!

MR SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, if there are any repeats of that, I will be warning you.

MR STANHOPE: As the Treasurer said yesterday, we are a powerful economy, boxing well above our weight in divisions around Australia. We are the jurisdiction with the lowest unemployment rate: 3.8 per cent. That is what we have been working on and reflecting on over the last couple of years. We have also undone the enormous damage done by your lot in health and education. We have converted that $27 million that you were going to give away, and that you did not think was needed in the education system, into education. We invested it. That is what we have done.

We have dealt with a range of other disasters. We had to deal with the incompetence exposed in relation to the management of the Williamsdale quarry. We had to deal with the incompetence exhibited by your party in relation to your management of Totalcare. We had to make those hard and tough decisions. We dealt with the hotel school, after seven years of absolute incompetence by you in relation to the management of the hotel school. You managed it for seven years and ran it into the ground. It was complete and utter incompetence by your lot.

There were other issues we had to deal with it. There was CanDeliver. Where is CanDeliver? Where did CanDeliver get to? It was another startling success story. How is Impulse travelling these days-the biggest unused, vacant basketball stadium in Australia, the Impulse hanger out at the airport, the great legacy of Brendan Smyth? This is what we have been doing over the last two years and, along the way, we have prepared a ministerial code of conduct.

Tourism funding

MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Minister for Business and Tourism, Mr Quinlan. Minister, I refer to comments made by Ross MacDiarmid, the CEO of

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .