Page 1269 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 25 March 2009
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I know of several businesses that have lost staff of late. There has been a noticeable impact for those staff; there has been a noticeable impact for those businesses; there has been a noticeable impact for those clients; and there has been a noticeable impact on the Canberra community. Yes, the Treasurer said yesterday:
… there has not been a noticeable impact …
I find this absolutely staggering. I am very concerned that the Chief Minister would stand by his Treasurer when she makes a comment like that. The Treasurer went on to say:
I would be surprised if anyone … is feeling the impact of the technical recession.
I guess that, if you talk about this “technical recession” term that they keep talking about, maybe it is not real; maybe it is just on paper. But the fact is that this recession is hurting Canberrans. It is hurting Australians and it is hurting people all around the world, but the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister or Treasurer will not even acknowledge that that is the case.
Today Mr Stanhope said that it is in fact very painful: that wealth is lost and dreams are shattered; that is what a recession is. Yet, yesterday it was “I would be surprised if anyone … is feeling the impact of the technical recession”. Mr Stanhope and his ministers are certainly at odds over this situation and as to who is to blame for it. We are in a recession and people are hurting.
On 4 March, the ABC Online website stated:
The ACT is the only state or territory to record two consecutive quarters of contraction in the figures, but economists say the figures may be readjusted as more data is made available.
We are still waiting for that data, but that does not change the fact that it is actually hurting Canberrans.
Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald published the statement:
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has commended efforts by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd …
I have got some doubts about whether Kevin Rudd is handling the economy all that well, but I wonder how many people would be commending Treasurer Gallagher and Chief Minister Stanhope for how they are handling it. I wonder how many people are publishing and putting on the record that they think the ACT government is handling this recession well. How many people are saying that?
The Chief Minister is very good at coming into this chamber and telling us about all the people who love him. He often reads a list of five, 10 or 15 quotes from people who say that the government is doing such a good job. Where is that list now? Where is that list of people who are talking about how well the ACT government is handling
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