Page 4921 - Week 11 - Thursday, 21 October 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR CORBELL: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The point does bear repeating because the Canberra community—
Mr Smyth: On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, you have just warned him not to be tedious and repetitious and he stands up and says the point bears repetition. It is a violation of standing order 62 and it is actually an insult to you in your role as Deputy Speaker.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes, sit down, thank you very much, Mr Smyth. I think you have made your point, Mr Corbell.
MR CORBELL: It sounds like it is a very sore point, Madam Deputy Speaker, but I accept your ruling. Thirty per cent is not the target for our community; 40 per cent is. Forty per cent is the figure because, if we are to have any credibility in engaging with other cities, with other communities, we have to demonstrate that we ourselves understand what the science tells us.
Mr Seselja: Magic!
MR CORBELL: It is not magic; it is science, Mr Seselja. It is based on the science. It is based on the views of thousands of scientists from across the world. If you disagree with that, go and have the argument with them. But we accept it, we understand it and we will act on it.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (5.10): I love it when I stand up and Mr Rattenbury groans. You know that you are getting under their skin.
This is an important matter of principle. It is a matter of principle that needs to be reinforced. The Canberra Liberals have had a consistent approach in this matter. The measure of the target that we think we should be aiming for is one which is a balanced approach. As Mr Seselja has said, this is about balancing the benefit to the environment and the cost to ACT taxpayers.
On top of that, you have to take into account the impact that going down a particular path will have on businesses in the ACT when we are nothing more than a very small hole in the great big donut of New South Wales; the impact that, over time, this will have on the flight of industry from the ACT, the impact that will have on the underlying tax capacity of the ACT and the underlying capacity for us to maintain industry in this town.
Mr Corbell has spent a lot of time attempting to justify his figure of 40 per cent. He says, “Well, everybody agrees with me.” It is a pretty special sort of figure and the arguments put forward by Mr Corbell in support of it were pretty special, especially in their circularity. But we have to look at what this government does. Mr Corbell wants to be able to say that he is the leader. He is on the record today in the media saying, “By this, we shall re-establish our leadership.”
First of all, we have to remember that we in the ACT lost leadership under the tutelage, under the leadership, of the man who is now cycling through Spain,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video