Page 1138 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
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Mr Stanhope: Since the terms of reference, Mrs Burke.
MR HARGREAVES: Since the terms of reference were issued.
Mrs Burke: Is that right? Now it suits you to say it. You’re drawing a long bow again.
MR HARGREAVES: Moo!
Madam TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne): That was disorderly, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: I withdraw the “moo”, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker.
Madam TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mrs Burke, however, should not interject.
MR HARGREAVES: You do tend to tempt people. Predominantly, Mrs Burke’s dissertation, if one can give it that sort of appellation, was about whether or not we talked to the community. In fact, I refute Mrs Burke’s comments. “Do tell,” she says. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I put it to you that this government’s record for talking to the community is quite extensive; it is a good record. If we take the housing issues, for example, I had a number of fora in this very building, in the room next door, with a number of interested parties involving many segments of the community, culminating in the summit. In making sure that this government had conversations with its multicultural community, I had conversations in the room next door, more fora, culminating in—what?—another summit. So we have had many conversations with the community out there.
I have met more people—constituents, community groups, lobby groups, interest groups et cetera—over the past 15 months than Mrs Burke has had hot breakfasts, and she is English, so that is a lot of hot breakfasts. Those opposite do not even know what community is; they use the word “community” very much like the Greens do; but if you ask them to define what is community they cannot tell you. Is it every single person in the ACT? That is the Greens’ method of management, let me tell you: “There will be no decisions taken by any government until every single person in the ACT has been sat down and explained everything.” That is the Greens’ way of doing it. Those opposite have a slightly shorter version of it—that every single decision will be discussed with them. You would ask them: what is a community? They say, “The community at large.”
Mr Stanhope in fact did talk to representatives of the business community, representatives of the union community. But the opposition are complaining because he did not talk to the rest—the sporting community, the religious community, multicultural community, education community, older persons community, youth sector, and we could go on. The fact is that, if we did that, we would have people born, live their lives and die in that community consultation phase. We would never get a decision made.
The Stanhope government are not afraid of taking the tough decisions; we have done it and we will do it again. The fact is that the opposition are belly-aching because they have not got access to a document they would dearly love to get access to. It is as simple as
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