Page 4497 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 November 2005
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travellers here supporting the invasion of Iraq, supporting the detention of David Hicks, refusing to progress reconciliation. This is what they stand for.
I love motions and debates like this. I love motions like this, to the extent they reinforce to the people of Canberra how right they were in sending this mob to purgatory, to perdition. It confirms for the people of Canberra how right they were at the last election. I love it.
MR SPEAKER: The minister’s time has expired.
DR FOSKEY (Molonglo) (12.03): It looks as though, as sometimes seems to happen in this place, the Greens stand somewhat between the government and the opposition as they wage their federal-ACT battle in the house. In this case, however, I believe that I stand somewhat closer to the government than I do to the opposition.
Nonetheless, we have some concerns about the apparent deterioration of relations between the federal and territory governments. In some ways, this apparent deterioration is lamentable in that it means the ACT is not getting the full range of benefits that we should receive from the commonwealth. For instance, the ACT government has recently stated that it will not seek funding available from the federal government for the solar cities program. There have been a number of problems surrounding the ACT government’s lack of obtaining the federal government’s indigenous domestic violence funding in a timely manner. We agree that the ACT government should work as constructively as it can to enhance opportunities for the territory in terms of these commonwealth activities, and we urge you to do so.
But the fault does not lie solely with the ACT government. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the National Capital Authority is not interested in working with the ACT government in developing a cohesive, integrated and coordinated planning regime that you would think would be in everyone’s interest. Instead, the NCA appears to be acting like so many other commonwealth agencies, which have been politicised by this federal government.
Who could seriously claim that the NCA is overseeing the airport developments in a cooperative, constructive manner, in line with best-practice planning principles and for the benefit of the people of the ACT? Who could seriously claim that the NCA had Canberra’s best interests at heart when they deliberately sabotaged the ACT government’s earlier election promise to follow the western route for the Gungahlin Drive extension—not that the ACT government had to accept this, as it did, without putting up any serious resistance? In fact, this was one area where the Greens would have liked to have seen more backbone on display in standing up for the ACT’s interests.
But I would like to devote the rest of my time to discussing the apparent deterioration in relations between the ACT and federal governments. As they say, when you sup with the devil, be sure to take a long spoon. When you hand over unprecedented coercive powers to a government that has proven time and again that it can not be trusted or taken at its word, be sure to insist on plenty of safeguards and effective measures that would ensure that these powers cannot be abused with impunity.
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