Page 107 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2010
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There has been a significant amount of email traffic and correspondence in relation to this issue. What the Greens have said is: “We did support you, but now we do not. We supported you in November but not any more, because we have had our behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Labor Party. We have had the conversation with the minister. The minister has told us that this is how it is going to be and we have accepted it.” This is becoming the pattern. We have seen it on school closures; we have seen it in a number of areas. When it comes to actually standing up for the interests of those people who elected them, the Greens are found wanting.
When it comes to actually standing up to their alliance partners, they refuse to do it. Sometimes they try. We saw it in this case. They tried for a little while. They said, “Yes, we will stand up to them.” They said it in November; they said it in January. In January, they were saying that Andrew Barr was thumbing his nose but at the first opportunity back here to push the point, we actually see the Greens selling out, the Greens not honouring their commitment; the Greens doing a major backflip. No doubt they will respond to each of those emails in some detail and say, “Well, this is why we sold you out. This is why we have now changed our position. This is why we believe that you as Gungahlin residents—
Mr Coe: And they will show the evidence.
MR SESELJA: Without detailed evidence, but the Greens have accepted what the minister has had to say. They have accepted his word on it. But they are saying, essentially, that you, as Gungahlin residents, are not as important to them as other residents of the ACT. Other residents might fight against a road. They might fight even to have certain long-term planned roads taken off forward plans. But when it comes to a concrete example in Gungahlin, the Greens see them differently and the Labor Party sees them differently. They do not see their amenity as being important. They do not see their concerns as being worth listening to, and they will not act to stand up to a minister who did thumb this nose, again, at a resolution of this Assembly.
That is a resolution that stands. That resolution is still there. So no doubt at some point the Greens will bring back a motion which recants the previous resolution, which says, “No, we got it wrong.” No doubt they will bring it back. But at this stage the Assembly is saying to the minister that until there is a contrary motion, you need to realign this road. You should realign this road. As it stands, Andrew Barr is thumbing his nose at the Assembly.
He is now doing it, of course, with the support of the Greens through their public statements. It reflects poorly on this alliance. It reflects poorly on how they treat the residents of Gungahlin and it is the latest in a long line of decisions, particularly by the ACT Labor government, that shows absolute disdain for the residents of Gungahlin. We will not support it and we will continue to fight on their behalf. (Time expired.)
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (5.02): We have obviously already canvassed this matter this morning. I will just repeat what I said this morning. In November last year, as Mr Seselja indicated,
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