Page 4484 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 November 2005
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That this Assembly:
(1) express concern at the deterioration in relations between the ACT Government and the Australian Government; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to work more constructively to enhance opportunities for the Territory in terms of Australian Government activities within the ACT.
It is regrettable that any member has the need to bring forward a motion of this nature. It has come only after a deal of consideration of what seems to be an endless war that is running between the territory, particularly the Chief Minister, and his colleagues at the commonwealth level. I raise it because it comes up in conversation so often with people in Canberra who are vexed as to how these perpetual battles can be quietened.
There is concern expressed to me by so many in the business community in this city about the potential long-term damage that this deteriorating relationship will have on commerce in the territory. It stands to reason that, if there is a constant barrage of criticism emanating out of the territory government against the major player in this town, the commonwealth, with their massive expenditures, employment creation and support for industry, the day of reckoning may be looming where we start to slide further down the priority scales in terms of their decisions to allocate expenditure.
The petulant attitude of the ACT government, I suggest, towards the federal government is essentially bad for Canberra. The territory government is constantly seen as putting a party-political, point-scoring view above sensible cooperation. What is best for Canberra comes a long way behind Labor taking unrealistic ideological positions on what should be sensible management decisions. I remain quite unconvinced that the position that the Chief Minister advocates on so many issues is necessarily reflective of the view of all of his colleagues, many of whom, I suspect, cringe at the difficulties that his approach creates and the isolation in which it constantly puts the ACT.
Labor in the ACT, sadly, still carries much of the characteristics of the old Victorian left which always preferred ideological purity to practical governance. I know there are some on the other side who would not align themselves with the old Victorian left, but I suggest that is a prevailing view which colours much of the utterances that we hear in this place from time to time. The fact that there may be differences of viewpoint on policy over various issues does not mean that there cannot be a constructive relationship.
In other states, whilst they may have differences with the commonwealth, when things are critical and on matters of importance to their jurisdiction, in fact they work to get the best outcome, on a cooperative basis. It seems to me that, instead of adopting an antagonistic approach to the federal government, the ACT should be more sensible and businesslike.
There is a string of areas we could look at with regard to their inflammatory and misleading statements. We have seen it recently with the supposed impact of the WorkChoices bill. The Chief Minister said such absurd things as:
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