Page 854 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 2 May 2007
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(b) the failure of some ACT Government departments to adequately respond to questions relating to expenditure, specifically on meals, travel and entertainment;
(c) the failure of these departments to keep adequate records to properly quantify, describe and justify these spending decisions; and
(d) the failure of the ACT Government and relevant Ministers to ensure that good governance principles, including openness, responsibility and accountability, are adhered to; and
(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) provide the people of the ACT with an assurance that ACT Government spending can be detailed and measured to provide a tangible benefit to the people of Canberra; and
(b) provide a guarantee that ensuring good governance is a priority of the ACT Government.
Back in March 2001, the then Leader of the Opposition, Jon Stanhope, in releasing what was called “a code of good government”, painted a picture of political malaise in which public confidence had declined in all of our public and social institutions. There was, Mr Stanhope opined, cynicism, frustration, resentment, powerlessness and anger in the electorates of Australia.
Mr Stanhope complained about things which seem incredibly trifling in retrospect given what this government has done over the last 5½ years. He complained about things like “feel the power of Canberra” numberplates. He complained about a futsal slab which cost, I think, $280,000 and actually hosted a number of futsal matches and continues to host circuses. In fact, the function of that was not even twigged by the then opposition, who thought it was going to be a car park and had no problem with the expense incurred on that. They just seized on that as some sort of instance of bad governance. They complained about elective surgery waiting lists that showed “virtually no improvement”. In Jon Stanhope’s speech setting out the need for a code of good government, there is a sense of making mountains out of molehills.
Just how much worse have matters become under this government—under Jon Stanhope’s government? Hospital waiting lists are now the worst in Australia. There are greatly reduced community services, including the closure of the Griffith library and the Civic shopfront. There is stagnancy in the number of public housing properties available. Property taxes and charges increased by over 40 per cent in the last budget. Business taxes increased up to about 60 per cent, which affects small businesses in the territory. And there is a city that looks tacky and tired.
Mr Stanhope, like some sort of caped crusader, proposed that when the Labor Party got into office back in 2001 they would “rebuild public confidence in the institutions that frame the way we live”. To that end, he proposed “to restore confidence in the process of government—to propose and explain a manner of strong, responsible, responsive and accountable governance”. He then gave a list of values that would “shape the vision Labor has for Canberra”. What were those values? The ones he
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