Page 2482 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 22 August 2006
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government as the most significant issues that they face, that is, skills and labour force issues, general support, and a reduction in regulation.
This lies in stark contrast to the latest business expectations survey released by the ACT Chamber of Commerce and Industry in July. Indeed, that survey showed that overall business expectations of the ACT’s economic performance were in fact weaker than those of the national economy and that the outlook for the ACT’s general business conditions declined more than was expected in June.
From these survey figures we can see that the general trends going into September are signalling an expected deterioration in business conditions, reduced profits and labour costs increasing. This means that there is a growing lack of confidence by Canberra business in the local area and the management by the territory government. This was an area where Mr Quinlan repeatedly got up here, had questions asked and responded in this fashion: these Sensis surveys and chamber surveys were wonderful and, as soon as they started deteriorating, suddenly they went off the agenda and were no longer an area of interest. These surveys are hardly a glowing reference for the government’s economic white paper and its business-friendly credentials.
When you take into account the department’s failing and administrative waste, its ongoing merry-go-round of portfolio responsibilities and lack of focus on commitments to business, the arts and even its own people, this funding allocation, seems—certainly to me—to be a mere shot in the dark in terms of what is truly required to run an effective and efficient Chief Minister’s Department.
I also take this opportunity to dwell on one or two other areas. I have raised this previously. I am troubled always by the ever-growing role of the communications unit within the government. It has become increasingly, in my view—and I think it is a view shared by many in this place—an arm of promotion of the ACT government. We have heard Mr Lasek explain to us that this is supposed to promote and that we have got to have these things. Mr Quinlan said it would be a boring place if I were ever the Treasurer because there would not be all the circuses and the like.
The fact of the matter is that the cost of this group has gone up by another half a million dollars. It is pumping out propaganda, holding events and telling people in Canberra that we have to go out and enjoy ourselves because this group says we have to, rather than rely on more community-based activity. Instead, it has been tied in with promoting the territory government rather than, in my view, simply confining itself to the legitimate process of conveying important communications to the electorate at large.
I do not remain very convinced that the size and scale of this particular unit are appropriate. I have had these concerns for a long time. It seems to be almost in the area of an untouchable icon within the government. I am not surprised at all, because it is an icon that is doing a wonderful job in promoting the Chief Minister and his ministers. It takes on a function that is way above and beyond the normal process of getting out official messages. In a period of time when we are told that we are expecting too much in the way of services and that the people of Canberra expect vastly more than the people in the other states and territories, we ought to be seeing the situation where costs are reined in. They certainly have been in areas that are critical to us, but they do not seem to be
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