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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Thursday, 24 June 2004) . . Page.. 2660 ..

MR QUINLAN: I am glad you are saying that. I hope Hansard is picking up that Mr Pratt is saying, “We stand by that comment” because during the lead-up to the election we need to cost all the commitments you have made. I recall you making the comment that you were going to bring police numbers up and you were going to pay for it out of the additional economic activity of Creative Canberra. As a funny coincidence, that ain’t got no benchmark, ain’t got no targets, ain’t got no numbers and ain’t got no time lines.

Creative Canberra is quite transparent, thin and has absolutely no substance, and yet it is going to pay for, immediately, 120 additional police. I am very happy—I think there might be a little time left over—for the leader to leap up at the end of my time and commit to 120 new police and the cost associated with them. We are keeping the table up there; we want to inform the people of Canberra what election commitments are going to cost them. You are lining up as one of the highest taxing governments coming in the ACT.

Mr Smyth: Highest taxing? What taxing?

MR QUINLAN: You agreed yesterday to a resolution put forward by the Greens.

Mr Smyth: Highest taxing? You’re a joke!

MR QUINLAN: You agreed to something that is going to cost $100 million. That is on your list now.

Mr Smyth: We agreed to it in 1997!

MR QUINLAN: You can deny it. Your voice is getting squeaky!

MR SPEAKER: Order, members!

MR QUINLAN: You agreed yesterday to a resolution by the Greens. We just want to get all the costs against your name. We went through the exercise; we put our numbers out. We put out in our numbers last year that there would be 30 police. We debated; you put our numbers out; you put out that we committed to 30 police. You did not put us out as committing to immediately go to the national average; we talked about going to the national average in aspirational terms. What did we go to the electorate with? I have in front of me the article from the Canberra Times of the Friday the week before the election—eight days before the election. It says, “Labor Party’s pledge for an extra 20 police officers over three years was criticised by the ACT government.”

Mr Smyth: Would that be Friday the 13th?

MR QUINLAN: That would be Friday the 12th.

MR QUINLAN: The ACT government at that time accepted that this incoming government had committed to an extra 20 police over three years. You debated it. So you cannot come in here and say, “Oh no, you committed to the national average—you haven’t done it, so you’ve broken a promise.”

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