Page 2098 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 May 2009
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resources will be enhanced. Transport solutions will become available and feasible. IT infrastructure can be more easily and affordably integrated.
For this to happen, you need to bring the community with you. Today I am, therefore, announcing that we will be putting forward a concept plan to the community on how we can achieve this. It is a plan to sustainably develop our city, to underpin our economy, to protect our unique suburbs and to enable a sustainable public transport system in the future. I call on both the Labor Party and the Greens to engage with us in this community conversation.
Governments can be very bad at the business of business. We see a city where governments are there to assist businesses to do what they can, not just telling them what they cannot. If, as we have stated, it is a fundamental imperative that the economic base of the territory be broadened, then we must broaden the scope of our thinking to include business as a ground-floor stakeholder with meaningful contributions to make to our city, to our culture and to our community.
That this government has engaged and continues to engage in expensive indulgences is beyond question. Government spending can, and should, be accountable, open and subject to the highest levels of scrutiny. It should also be targeted at what people want, rather than only what the government deems you ought to have. It should be better planned, better built, better run. There should be planning reform, business and economic assistance, more focused services designed to deliver resources to frontline workers and services to more Canberrans.
I take this opportunity to warn this government. You have a significant job on your hands and you have not started well. We will allow you no quarter. We will scrutinise every move, every decision. You face a committed and capable opposition and there will be no free ride. Try as you might, you will not be permitted to hide behind distractions.
This is the legacy of Katy Gallagher’s first budget: a budget with no plan—no plan to accept all the facts, no plan for recovery, no plan to repay debts, no plan to manage portfolios, no plan to address the risks, no plan to answer concerns, no plan to accept responsibility and no plan to do anything differently. If this is the best the Treasurer and this government can deliver, then the ACT faces challenging times indeed.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (3.06): Thanks to the Greens, there are some key initiatives in this budget that point the ACT in the right direction. The underlying approach of the ACT government, however, is still too much like business as usual, when what is needed is a vision for the future. This budget is a sign that with a strong Greens presence in the Assembly the people of the ACT can expect a more sustainable Canberra, socially, economically and environmentally.
Today marks a new beginning for the Australian Capital Territory with the delivery of a budget that shows a new influence that goes beyond old party orders and finds collaborative solutions. This budget acknowledges the faith of the people of Canberra who voted for the Greens and for change at the last election. The current global
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