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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4192 ..

Mr Speaker, we are pointing out that, in terms of the real issues that affect people in this city today, this government has failed. We have a hospital in genuine crisis. We have an aged care sector where little or nothing has been done, and even the sector says that. We heard the quotes from the Deputy Speaker in regard to what Jim Purcell had to say.

In policing we find that the numbers have not been kept up. The assertion was made that we did not put any money into it. I have got documents here—and I will show them to members if they want to see them—that show that the budgets did grow and that there were enormous initiatives, particularly in 1998-99 in respect of communications equipment and a upgrade to the Winchester Centre to bring the police force forward. And that is what we did.

I think we put extra ambulance units on the road. However, we now find that the Kambah ambulance station closes to provide backup to the Fyshwick station which mans the SouthCare chopper when it is deployed. So don’t say that we did nothing in police or emergency services. We certainly did.

Mr Speaker this is a serious motion. It is not a waste of the Assembly’s time; it is not about gloss. What it is about is taking a government to task for its failures. What it is is pointing out to the community that they have got a government that has failed them on the key issues. It has failed on health. It is failing in education, particularly in our high schools where now 46½ per cent of our students are not in a government high school and we have got a minister who does not care.

The government has failed in police and emergency services. The great failure, of course, in their time is the failure to warn Canberrans that the fires were coming, as ministers went off on leave and ignored the warnings that were given in numerous briefings.

Mr Speaker, by any objective measure, this is a government of failure. When we left office they inherited a strong economy and strong direction for a city that was going to have a strong future. This will again be the case under a Smyth Liberal government in 2004 because our creative Canberra plan is real, it has targets and it has initiatives that are achievable.

Unlike the Chief Minister, who will not comment, we will continue to put out a policy for things like the dam, which is real, which has a target and which is achievable. He is going to tell us in March next year what they might do about water.

So, Mr Speaker, this motion should be supported by the Assembly. This is a good motion because it takes the government to task for what it has failed to do, for what it has failed to deliver, for the promises it has failed to keep and for the opportunities that it has squandered. The Assembly should support this motion.

Question put:

That Mr Smyth’s motion be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

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