Page 5523 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Regardless of the views of members of the Labor Party, regardless of the views of members of the Greens, we will continue to fulfil our responsibility to stand up for those families. We will not take a backward step because this Labor-Greens alliance says they are not going to vote for sensible things.
Let us have a look now at what the Labor Party and the Greens have voted against. They have voted against a statement that highlights the cost of living pressures. They have voted against a criticism of the government for that and they have voted against a call for the government to consider these issues and to be transparent about how they deal with cost of living pressures. That was what they voted against today. That was what the Labor Party and the Greens voted against.
We simply do not agree with that position. We will go out there and we will have the argument. We will have the argument here and we will have the argument in the suburbs. We will talk to all of those families who are copping these cost of living pressures. The message that they have received loudly and clearly today from the majority of members in the Assembly, from the Labor Party and the Greens, is that the Labor Party and the Greens do not care about those issues. There is no other message to take out. For those families who are struggling with the cost of childcare, with the cost of electricity, with the cost of water, with the cost of rates and with all of the other taxes and charges that they are facing, with rising interest rates, the Labor Party and the Greens are saying, “We are not going to do anything about that.”
What we instead had was the Labor Party and the Greens justifying why it is so, finding excuses why it is so. Those excuses are thin. On the one hand they say, “At least we are not quite as bad as New South Wales.” But on the other hand there are plenty of examples where they are even worse than New South Wales.
We are not surprised that the Labor Party is voting against it. We are no longer surprised that the Greens have, again, defended the government and sought to rationalise and justify it. But certainly we will continue to fight for it because this is core business and this should be core business for members of the Assembly. It is certainly core business for the Canberra Liberals.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Gaming Machine (Problem Gambling Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010
Debate resumed from 22 September 2010, on motion by Ms Hunter:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (12.08): I rise this morning to indicate that the government will support this bill in principle and welcomes Ms Hunter’s initiative in bringing forward this bill, which proposes to introduce a mandatory contribution by the operators of electronic
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video