Page 3418 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 17 August 2010
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actually need is better representation at the commonwealth level. We need someone who will argue and influence what happens to the ACT. We know that Mr Humphries will not deliver that. Mr Hockey has told us that already in no uncertain terms. The party he represents would subject the ACT to the same economic hardship that we experienced in 1997.
I put forward this issue as an MPI today so that we have a chance to discuss what has been recognised by both Labor and Liberal governments and economics professionals—that this issue represents the single biggest risk to the ACT economy. The Greens do not support public service job cuts. We will do all we can to ensure that that does not happen. That is why we are running a strong campaign. We believe we need better representation at the federal level because at the moment the election promises from the Liberals obviously do not take into account the impact on the ACT, do not take into account the devastating impacts this could have on so many families; not just those who would not get jobs in the public service, but also all of those small businesses.
It really does shock and surprise me that the party that says that it is there standing up for small business is the party that is happy to go out there and to be spruiking this electoral promise about cutting jobs in the public sector which will obviously have flow-on effects to many small business people and small businesses across the territory. It will also mean that there are not those opportunities for our young people to gain employment in the public service. This is at a time when we are trying to provide as many opportunities as we can to retain those skilled young people who are going through our tertiary institutions. Many of them will now need to move interstate and away from families and friends in order to seek employment.
I find it a horrible thought that in the ACT this will result in those young people not having the opportunities that so many other young people in previous years have been able to pursue. This is why I brought this issue up today. It is an important issue. I really look forward to Mr Hanson’s contribution when he no doubt will tell us all why it is such a wonderful thing for the ACT economy, for Canberra families, for small business, for young people, for these cuts to go ahead.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Health and Minister for Industrial Relations) (4.22): I welcome the Greens putting this matter of public importance to the Assembly today. There are a number of different layers in the impact of federal government cuts on the ACT. We see the impact on the commonwealth employment levels; we see the flow-on impact on the ACT budget; and of course we see the impact for communities through the impact on small business and the private sector here in the ACT, which relies heavily on the commonwealth spend in the territory.
In our budget papers every year—I imagine it has been the same since self-government—we identify commonwealth government consumption expenditure as playing a key role in the territory’s economic performance in the medium term. Indeed, what we saw over the 2009-10 year was that the commonwealth government’s expenditure, including its stimulus-related expenditure, did support the ACT economy through a pretty difficult time. Also, when you look at the national accounts, and back in 2008-09, when the territory slipped into a technical recession—
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