Page 1886 - Week 05 - Thursday, 6 May 2010
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What we see in this budget, line after line, project after project, portfolio after portfolio, is that there might be spending but there is precious little in results. That is our assessment of this budget: big bucks, small bang.
At this time it is the common catchcry for the government to make puerile demands for an alternative budget. We have our own timetable and agenda and we will be sticking to it. But we have been doing the hard work to be an effective opposition. That role is twofold: first, to scrutinise government policy and performance, to support good policy and oppose bad policy; second, to provide alternatives and drive positive changes.
Over the past 18 months we have been performing both these roles. We have highlighted government failures: the debacle that is the prison, the serious and endemic problems in the health system, the failures in public transport and housing affordability, to name a few. We have also built an impressive list of policy achievements from opposition: the government advertising act, roadside drug testing, FOI reform, adoption changes, campaign finance reform and more.
However, Mr Speaker, I tell you what we would not do. We would not waste money on personal legacy projects, we would not waste time on red tape and we would not waste opportunities to do things right the first time.
In yesterday’s debate, Mr Speaker, we saw just how defensive the Chief Minister was on the topic of the GDE—and he is right to be so. The figure that the government has finally owned up to—that it will cost at least $20 million more, directly due to the decision to build it as a one-lane road instead of two—is an understatement—
Mr Stanhope: Name the roads you built in government.
Mr Hanson: Shame, Stanhope, shame!
MR SESELJA: not to mention the economic cost to the territory—
Mr Stanhope: Name a single road you built.
MR SESELJA: We see the sensitivity again, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Stop the clocks, thank you, clerks. In the spirit of consistency, Mr Stanhope, you will be warned if you keep intervening.
MR SESELJA: Thank you, Mr Speaker. That is not to mention the economic cost to the territory and the frustration for motorists that the long, drawn-out and sorry saga has inflicted on the town.
We would not have wasted the time and money on a sham opening of the AMC as a pre-election stunt—or the millions every year running a half-empty facility. This facility was completed over budget with a reduced scope from 374 beds to 300 and no chapel.
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