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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4155 ..

we have the stillborn parking tax, which is still lurking there. I refer members to page 96 of budget paper No 3 that says quite clearly that the government will make up any shortfall in funding through extra fees, taxes and charges. We have the attempt at a new rating policy—that collapsed; and of course we have the proposed loan security duty that has gone by the way, as it should. These are all the failings of a government that does not know what it is doing and how it should deliver.

Let’s look at corrections. There was no funding for corrections health in 2002-03; they had to come back and put that in. After we have built the temporary remand centre, we are still sending remandees interstate. So why did we build a white elephant that, if you look at the figures, has not been used properly and why do we still pay New South Wales to look after our remandees?

There has been no tangible corrections reform. The promise in the Labor Party policy in the lead-up to the last election was, first of all: “We’ll come up with the programs, because they are important; then we’ll design the prison to match the program; then we’ll pick a site.” Of course, that all went out the window in a flurry of activity when the Chief Minister was caught not having done anything for corrections. To prove he was better than the opposition, when we put our corrections policy on the table, he announced a prison that had not been through cabinet, where the sites had not been picked and where no decision had really been made. It is this knee-jerk reaction of the Chief Minister: “Don’t you dare say I haven’t done anything; I’m the Chief Minister, don’t you know.”

I am reminded that we have got the McConachie prison coming. McConachie was a reformer. Well done; I think it is a good name for the prison; I think it sets a tone. But it reminds me of the Beatles song. Drive my car. Mr Speaker, I am sure you would remember it. One line is: “I’ve got a driver and that’s a start.” The Chief Minister has got a name for a prison, and that is a start. It is this constant illusion that we are doing something when in reality we are not.

If we look through the Treasury portfolio, I guess the real thing that comes to mind would be the use of the Treasurer’s Advance to provide $10 million for urgently needed fire safety projects in public housing complexes. Guess how much of that $10 million has been spent two years later? About half. So there is your definition of urgent: two years, spend half. So yet again the incompetence really does beg that we condemn this government for their failures.

The governance, I think, is something that we really need to look at; it is this intolerance of criticism. It amazes me that the Chief Minister in particular, the doyen of human rights, is so opposed to anybody’s rights to dissent from him. I think on this side we have lost count of those who have drawn the Chief Minister’s abuse for daring to criticise the government. The solid case, the clear one, is Phil Cheney, the renowned expert, the man who knows all about bushfires. But if Phil Cheney criticises the Chief Minister, then who the hell is Phil Cheney; and off goes the Chief Minister.

I am sure other members will talk about, particularly in the field of the environment, the Chief Minister not being able to take the pressure. There is a habit of tabling huge bills that are reliant on regulations, without tabling the regs. “Trust us; we’re the government.” There is the habit of not reading reports. “Don’t blame me, I didn’t read

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