Page 3478 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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only on individuals but on their families as well. Mr Rattenbury and others mentioned the impact on small businesses because of that interconnection and the relationship between small business dependency and income from the federal public service.
There are a few dates that involve one of our members of the opposition. As has been said over the last couple of days, Mr Smyth was a federal member from 1995 to 1996. But it is interesting to note that between 1996 and 1998 he worked for Peter Reith and Amanda Vanstone as the small business adviser. To understand these time frames—1996 to 1998—that was the period when John Howard brought in these massive job cuts, with the impact being felt most predominantly in 1997. That is right smack in the middle of the time Mr Smyth was offering his advice for small business. So I do wonder what advice he offered up. What was his advice to Reith and Vanstone? What was his advice as the small business adviser? Was it to support small businesses? Here he is, a local member, seeing the devastation that is falling out in his community, and what was his advice? Was his advice to support and grow local business in the Tuggeranong Valley? It appears not. I will actually ask Mr Smyth: was your advice to grow or was your advice to slash and burn?
Mr Smyth: Go and read the report, if you know so much about what you think I think.
MS BURCH: Either way, the fact that you sat there, providing your words of wisdom that resulted in such devastation in the local community is something that is—
Mr Smyth: Your ignorance is devastating.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Order, Mr Smyth! You were heard in silence.
MS BURCH: Well, I do not know if you wear that badge with honour or whether you still try and brush it off with snide comments, but it is interesting to me to know that Mr Smyth was the small business adviser who provided all the advice that saw such job cuts and negative impact for the area of Brindabella. We can relive 1996, but let us just understand that this is the same policy—there is over there the small business adviser who supported it then and supports it now. This policy has come back, and we know from history that this will increase the call on community assistance through loss of jobs and loss of income of the public service employees and their families themselves and in the small business and community sectors that benefit from those business connections.
Who will pay for this increase in community demand? Well, I think it is fairly clear who will pay for these increases as a result of job cuts—it will be the ACT community and taxpayers. There will be more demand on community sector services, more demand on our community support services and more demand on our Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services.
Currently, Tuggeranong business owners are concerned about their own businesses. Indeed, I attended a meeting with members of the Tuggeranong Community Council, with the Hyperdome, on the prompting of concerns from small traders in the area. Their concerns are about the ongoing sustainability of the Tuggeranong area in a
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