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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4190 ..

delivered pizza the way that he delivers aged care beds, you would all starve. They are all coming. “We’re gunna give direct grants of land and we’re gunna give improvements and we’re gunna get beds,” but if you wanted a bed tonight you could not get one because all the beds are full. That is why the hospital system is clogged and that is why people are suffering under this government.

Let me turn to the National Zoo and Aquarium. The National Zoo and Aquarium came to us just as we were leaving office to say, “We’d like that block of land to the south of the zoo and aquarium to expand.” Unfortunately at that time for the zoo and aquarium, the land was covered in timber—timber that was to be felled in coming years. We said, “Well, look, when the timber has gone come and talk to us.”

A couple of months after we left office the timber was burnt down as a result of the Christmas Eve 2001 fire and for about 32 months the zoo and aquarium have been trying to get an answer out of this government as to whether they can have that land. It has been limbo time. It is a new game for this government—let’s play limbo, keep everybody in limbo; everybody is moving and they are shuffling; it looks like we are doing stuff; but nothing happens, and the zoo and aquarium is an example of this.

The other classic is Gungahlin Drive—on time, on budget. We will all believe that one when we see it because by July next year it won’t be finished and it won’t be on budget.

Mr Speaker, we have dealt with the assertion by the Treasurer that there was absolutely no strategic thinking until the Stanhope Labor government appeared. I just want to take one area—let’s pick environment. This is a good choice because the Chief Minister is the environment minister. Let’s see what has happened with the environment under the Chief Minister.

Under the previous government we set up initiatives such as no waste by 2010, which had strategic, long-term targets and we put in the funding to make things happen. We set up greenhouse gas targets, and we had a greenhouse gas strategy that was the first of its kind in this country. But this government is now saying, “Oh, too hard. You can’t achieve it. We’re afraid.” We set up a long-term process—2008 and then finally 2018—and we set ourselves specific targets. We put in place a plan to achieve those targets, and that is the difference. The difference is the level of gloss in your documents, and that will be the only legacy of a Stanhope government. We set up long timeframes with real targets and plans to achieve them. We actually funded things, funded initiatives, funded activities, to make sure that they would happen.

Let me take another area—say, infrastructure. The Chief Minister was critical of us because the Impulse hangar is empty. That is unfortunately true because of the vagaries of the Australian aviation industry. We have seen in the last couple of days that happening again to Virgin Blue and to Rex. You do not see us complaining about the government not doing anything to save Rex and Virgin Blue, which is what they did to us. Unfortunately, Impulse did not survive but we paid some money and we have got the infrastructure.

I think the auditor said we got value for money in respect of Bruce stadium. It was the cheapest refurbishment of a stadium in the country at the time, when stadiums all over the place—Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane—were being refurbished. Ours was the

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