Page 735 - Week 02 - Thursday, 12 February 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
of the capacity of this ACT Labor government to deliver, given their appalling record over the last few years, is, according to them, unacceptable. Well, we know why. They are embarrassed by their failure to deliver. They are embarrassed by their failure to be able to answer even the most basic questions.
That is why they put up the straw men. That is why, when Jon Stanhope talks about this issue, he struggles to stick to the truth, he struggles to stick to the facts and he has to invent information that is in fact contrary to the public record. It is contrary to what has been said, clearly and consistently. But I suppose that is what happens when you lack an argument, when your argument does not stack up. And let us review the argument. The argument of Jon Stanhope and this government is that any package coming from the federal government should be supported in its entirety. It should not be questioned, it should not be scrutinised in the Senate and we should simply accept it because it is stimulus.
We all agree that there should be a stimulus package, but any reasonable person would say, “If there is going to be $42 billion of taxpayers’ money spent”—potentially with much more to come—“we should look at that spending.” And that is reasonable. We at an ACT level have a responsibility to ask the people charged with delivery of this package: can you get it done? On your record, and on the answers you have given us, we say that we have serious doubts about your capacity to get it done. And we are not the only ones.
We have heard the Chief Minister. He has been fond of quoting the Housing Industry Association in terms of jobs at a national level. Of course, the local Housing Industry Association has different concerns. They have concerns about the capacity to deliver, given their management of the planning system. We hear this from Stuart Collins, HIA, in an email:
HIA is extremely concerned that planning red tape is continuing to cause time delays and is adding to the cost of construction.
He goes on to say:
I see this being a further issue when it comes to the Australian Government’s spot purchase and capital works programs where there is an intention to get stock on the ground immediately and capital works programs completed within the year. If the planning system is not fixed this may be unachievable and ACT may miss out.
That is what the HIA have to say on the matter. That is what the ACT Housing Industry Association have to say. They do not believe that this government have the capacity to get it done. We have seen them attempt to manage major capital works projects. We have seen their failures. We have seen the delays. We have seen the cost blowouts. And we have heard concerns expressed about our planning system. We have heard them recently from the head of Actew, expressing concerns about our planning system. Now we have the HIA making the very point that we have been making—that is, whatever money comes from the federal government, however much comes to the ACT, the question for this government is: how are they going to get it done?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .