Page 528 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 8 March 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
They continue to make promises that they either have no intention of keeping or no ability to keep. They will simply say and do anything. This government’s record and the Labor Party’s record are clear. We are seeing it both at federal level and at ACT level. Unfortunately, it brings all politics into disrepute when we have such fundamental promises—
Mr Stanhope: What a joke! Bringing politics into disrepute?
MR SESELJA: What is it about the Labor Party? The best they can throw back is “John Howard promised never to have a GST”. But when he changed his mind, he went to an election—
Mr Stanhope interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order!
MR SESELJA: He allowed the people to decide—
Members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, members!
Mr Doszpot interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, please be quiet. I ask you now, please, politely, be quiet. Mr Seselja, I am not deaf. I can hear you.
MR SESELJA: He did not look them in the eye two days before the election and promise not to bring in a GST and then bring in a GST months after. That is what he did not do. That is what Julia Gillard has done and Katy Gallagher did something very, very similar. She went to an election promising not to close schools and six weeks later started closing schools. She went to an election claiming all the plans in health were on the table whilst negotiating a secret and flawed deal to throw away $77 million in taxpayers’ money on an asset we already owned. (Time expired.)
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (4.06): I thank Mr Doszpot for bringing on this matter of public importance today. If we look at the importance of governments keeping their election promises, it is an easy thing to say that, yes, of course it is important for governments to meet the commitments they made to the electorate, and of course we will all agree that this is the case. There is no doubt that the integrity of every political party is built on their efforts to meet the commitments they make to their electorates. Political parties have fallen and self-destructed on the back of not keeping those election promises, most particularly when they appear to have done complete U-turns on policies, ruling things in and not delivering, ruling things out and then changing their minds.
We can all sit here and reel off a string of examples where promises have not been kept and we can all sit here and reel off all the reasons why they should be kept. Equally, we can argue at great length about the mandates and obligations elected
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video