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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Friday, 14 May 2004) . . Page.. 2002 ..

“The ACT balance sheet is among the strongest of all the states because they’ve got a lot of cash and other assets and not much debt,” Says Access Economics economist, Alan Tregilgas.

“They can probably afford to run their budget in the red for several years before having any problems.”

Excuse me, but I am likely to take their word for it over the newly found Keynesian expert. I do not really wish to go on too much. Mr Smyth talked about his creative Canberra. He left out this time around, when under pressure at a breakfast, that the government he would lead would invest in the fashion industry. That was a bit of lateral thinking. I think it was a case of not being able to think of much else if that be lateral thinking.

I also happen to have with me Building a Creative Canberra. “Creative Canberra” is a term used by the arts group in Canberra, isn’t it?

Mr Wood: It is one of the terms—Canberra capital or country capital.

MR QUINLAN: That is a bit of plagiarism. Let us go on with the plagiarism. Involved in this paper as a source of information is the reference to ACIL Consulting, Supplying and Supporting Defence: Promoting the ACT’s Edge, 2002. Where did that come from? That was one of the papers commissioned by this government in compiling its economic white paper. Good on you—plagiarism.

Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker, I wish to raise a point of order. The accusation that someone is a plagiarist is a serious one. I need to make the point. It is not plagiarism if you quote somebody and acknowledge it. The minister should withdraw because he is attempting to undermine the character of the Leader of the Opposition. This is not plagiarism because it is acknowledged.

MR SPEAKER: It is a point of debate.

MR QUINLAN: Thank you Mr Speaker. I will admit that it was aimed at the character of the Leader of the Opposition. If I need to modify it, let me say that, maybe, seeing that the particular quote was acknowledged, it is not plagiarism but certainly the policy is. I have here three or four pages of what the government is doing right now in relation to the defence and security sector.

There are seminars; there have been 16 one-on-one business consultations with the ABL; and participation in industrial relations activities. We have regular meetings of the Capital Region Defence Industry Committee and we are working with some of the big names in ACT business who work with the defence industry. In fact we are building contacts across the globe to open doors for people involved in the defence industry in Canberra.

If you take together the Access Economics view of our bottom line management and our position and the Australian Financial Review assessment of the government’s approach to building the economy, I think that what we have over there we do have. I can give credit to Mrs Dunne for her one contribution to this debate, when she said that imitation

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