Page 3465 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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politically expedient. It is the perennial scapegoat, tasked with a difficult job where the best outcomes largely go unnoticed by the general community, and is the subject of media attention only when things go wrong.
I spoke yesterday about how, unfortunately, the public service is used as a political football. The Greens recognise the value of the contribution made by many of the thousands of public servants across the ACT who work for the commonwealth or our own territory public service. Our community simply would not function if it was not for the executive that not only delivers the front-line services, but also contributes to policy development and provides the information that facilitates the governance of the country.
This is not to say that public servants must not be required to do their job efficiently and effectively. And public moneys must be spent in a manner that ensures the greatest return for taxpayers, which is, of course, the case. But the Greens would like to make sure that the community understands that we value the public service and the role that it plays in our community.
I would like to reiterate what I said yesterday about the economic impacts of large-scale public service job losses. Last time this occurred, we had a recession here in the ACT. Ms Porter pointed out how many people felt quite depressed: it had a great impact on their mental health and wellbeing. Mr Hanson thought that was very amusing; that is probably because Mr Hanson was not here in the ACT at the time to witness that particular impact on so many Canberra families. House prices fell by around 30 per cent, and that was a terrible time for families who had purchased a home, only to see the value of that home drop by 30 per cent while they were still struggling to pay their mortgage.
And let us not forget small business. When we cut 12,000 public sector jobs, it has a ripple effect. It ripples out into the economy, affecting thousands of small businesses. Most of these businesses are family-owned businesses. Here we have a Liberal Party that says it stands up for small business. Here we have a Liberal Party that says that it stands up for families. If there is one policy that is totally anti-family, it has to be this massive slashing of the commonwealth public service.
I think it is fair to say that everyone acknowledges that large public service job cuts are bad for the ACT. We know that Mr Humphries can do absolutely nothing, and the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, has told us this in no uncertain terms. At the Liberal Party local campaign launch on Sunday, he said:
… Gary—
Mr Humphries—
let me know his views in no uncertain terms about that, but we’re being upfront with the Australian people and we’re being upfront with Canberrans about what has to be done …
And let us not forget Tony Abbott, speaking at the National Press Club yesterday. He said that he could not rule out further cuts. That is, job losses could be even greater
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