Page 139 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 10 February 2010
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is often loud. The Speaker has observed that already; in one day of question time, he has worn out the totality of the Speaker’s patience in relation to question time interjections. He is certainly doing very well on that score. Top of the class there, Jeremy. But on any productivity measure, Hanson and Coe win hands down over Smyth and Seselja.
Let us look at some other measures. The Canberra Times last year undertook a bit of a league table of their own and measured the parties in a variety of different areas. Most particular and most interesting was the score on policy: D-plus for the Liberal opposition—hampered by a deficit of policy. Haven’t we seen that, Madam Deputy Speaker? We have witnessed it in this morning’s debate and in the way that they have begun 2010. They have begun 2010 where they left in 2009—opposition for opposition’s sake. They have nothing constructive to add to the public policy debate in this territory. They have opposed every significant piece of microeconomic reform that this government has sought to implement, even when, in their heart of hearts, they know it was the right thing to do.
Mr Doszpot let the cat out of the bag to me prior to being in this place, when he was not so heavily influenced by the black hand of Mr Smyth. When he was not so heavily influenced, Mr Doszpot said to me in a particular car park in a Canberra shopping centre that, although it was unpopular, it was the right thing to do to close schools. He knows it; I know it. He said so in his first interview to City News. He said: “We wasted three years talking about this. The community has moved on.” Everyone has, it would seem, except for Mr Doszpot. He may well continue to run this line, but we know, and the community knows, that he is stuck in the past.
MR HANSON (Molonglo) (11.09): The simple truth out of the Productivity Commission’s report is that we pay more, we get less and we wait longer.
We have heard from Jon Stanhope and Andrew Barr. Jon Stanhope basically went on the attack with a tirade of denial and false accusations; I will come to more of those later. But what we just heard from Andrew Barr, when he had 10 minutes to defend this government’s record on education and other areas within his portfolio responsibilities, was a Heather-esque attempt at wit reminiscent of some previous speeches he has made in here. Rather than being a serious attempt to defend or explain the government’s record, it was simply a very dismal attempt at humour.
The Greens’ response, I would have to say, is equally disappointing. Meredith Hunter, who is known for her non-attendance at estimates hearings and her abject failure to hold this government to account, spoke for seven or eight minutes, basically in defence of the dismal record of her mate Katy Gallagher and her government. If the Greens are to be taken seriously as economic managers, if they are going to be taken seriously as commentators in the Assembly and if they are going to be taken seriously as people who hold the government to account, they need to do more than spend seven or eight minutes apologising for the government and criticising the people who brought this very good motion on.
I commend Mr Seselja for bringing this motion on. It is very important that we recognise what this government is failing to deliver to the people of the ACT. After
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