Page 1120 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
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been common practice in this term of government. A cursory check of previous estimates transcripts will produce the necessary evidence that the previous Treasurer and/or Treasury officials were on deck within the first few days to present before the committee and to quite rightly set the scene for the estimates hearings. You may ask why I highlight such a point. Well, it concerns me that there is such a lacklustre approach to accountability, transparency and willingness of our Treasurer to stand first in line to prove that Canberrans can be confident in the future of the ACT economy.
This MPI—and my colleagues will agree—has been submitted today to highlight that the federal government continues to play the leading role in providing some of the economic benefits that Canberrans have enjoyed during the period that the Howard government has been in office. Yes, economic growth in this city is on the rise, and we have heard this from the Chief Minister and people like Chris Peters from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
A five-year average monthly “high” of residential approvals in the ACT was set in March this year. Retail turnover in the ACT hit $359.6 million in March, up almost eight per cent over the year, and in fact well above the national average of just over six per cent. I would assert that it would be audacious in the extreme for the Stanhope government to claim much of the glory for this. Canberrans in both extremes of the residential and retail sectors are confident. Top this off with further personal tax cuts and you can be assured that this level of confidence in the ACT will continue to rise.
As I have said many times publicly and in this place, ACT businesses have learned and know how to succeed with or without the assistance of the Stanhope government. Let us face it: they have had to in order to survive and do well. No doubt the ACT government should be crowing about the benefits set to flow from the federal budget. Well, just as a starting point, the injection of another 5,244 Australian public service jobs, a large proportion of which will come to Canberra, is evidence of the confidence levels being experienced in the residential and retail sectors in the ACT.
So how do we actually benefit in direct terms? Capital works projects certainly appear prominently. I note that Mr Stanhope, to his credit, had no hesitation in welcoming almost $72 million over four years to see Walter Burley Griffin’s vision for the national capital’s design come to fruition, to reshape Canberra’s waterfront and historic areas. There is no doubt that the federal government has been responsive to the definite requirement of upgrades to key trunk roads in Canberra, which is another important factor. It is apparent, through the significant funding injections, that the ACT has not been ignored in the latest round of funding allocations to combat accident black spots.
Some $480,000 set aside to conduct upgrades to the Federal and Barton highways is certainly a welcome program. Coupled with the $3 million to be spent on the duplication of the Barton Highway from the ACT border and the northern end of the proposed Murrumbateman bypass, we should see a crucial improvement in road safety. This is a very important transport link upgrade for the territory and our connection with the surrounding region. It is very reasonable to expect that both major highways leading into the nation’s capital should be of the highest standard possible,
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