Page 2266 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 23 June 2010
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Services has a substantial capital works budget this year. How has the rollout of these works progressed?
MR STANHOPE: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. Indeed, I welcome the opportunity to correct some of the nonsense that was spouted yesterday by both the Greens and the Liberals in this place in relation to the infrastructure plan and the extent to which they revealed an appalling lack of understanding of infrastructure and of the operations of the city.
Certainly this year, a record year in relation to investment and infrastructure, all departments are actually performing particularly well and, indeed, the Department of Territory and Municipal Services is no exception. The Department of Territory and Municipal Services, in taking account of new investment in the course of the year, rollovers and works that actually had continued across a number of years, began the year with the prospect of a $245 million spend. This is just on the part of the Department of Territory and Municipal Services.
The fascinating thing about that number, $245 million, is that that constitutes in total, in one department, four years expenditure under the Liberal Party in government. This is just one department. That was for their entire government. That is including health, education, housing and territory and municipal services. In just this year, the Department of Territory and Municipal Services invested in infrastructure in this city the same amount that the Liberal Party managed to invest across the entire ACT over four years.
Opposition members interjecting—
Mr Hargreaves: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, could you please tell those people opposite that speaking loudly does not mean that they can understand things in a different language? If they could keep it sotto voce, they could get their message across. I asked the question. I would like to hear the answer.
MR SPEAKER: Order! Members of the opposition, please keep the level of the interjections to a decent and audible level.
MR STANHOPE: The Liberal Party always do get a little agitated when anybody actually draws attention to their record of non-achievement or underachievement in government. In fact, the embarrassment is heightened by the fact that the Liberal Party’s most significant piece of infrastructure in six years of government was the Bruce Stadium fiasco, the upgrade of Bruce Stadium.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR STANHOPE: Here we have the interjections, the screaming, the shouting down, because any conversation around infrastructure leads inexorably back to the Liberal Party’s six years of non-action.
The second most significant thing they did in relation to infrastructure in government was to blow up the Canberra Hospital. The third most significant thing they did in
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