Page 2448 - Week 06 - Thursday, 23 June 2011
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everyone in your community. As the leader of this territory, I will make the arguments; I will meet with the people I need to meet with, at whatever level and in whatever forum; and I will achieve the outcomes our government needs to achieve for the people of Canberra.
If we wish to talk about competency in leadership, perhaps the success in winning an extra $260 million in federal growth funding for Canberra’s health services could set the example. This was the outcome of lengthy and strenuous arguments with my federal, state and territory colleagues. It shows that I and this government will get outcomes for the community on the difficult and complex issues, and we will do this from a position of knowledge in a way that will provide a lasting outcome for our community.
There is no starker contrast than that provided through the positive work of this government, with its continuing achievements in improving the quality of life enjoyed in our community, and the dim and shallow nature of the party who sit opposite us.
I am continuing to press forward on the major issues for our community at every level. I have already, in the last month, met with the Prime Minister to press forward on our territory’s rights and encourage her to further consider allocating funding to the Majura parkway. As I advised members in this place yesterday, I have also met several times with the infrastructure minister, Minister Albanese, and separately with the federal Treasurer, to put forward the argument around federal support of this very important piece of local, regional and national infrastructure. I also expressed my strong view to the federal Treasurer that there should be representation at the highest level by one of the smaller states or a territory in the review of GST calculations which is currently underway.
The massive health infrastructure development plan that is underway in the territory, along with other community infrastructure projects, show that this government is steadily addressing the challenge of catering for our growing and ageing population. And as we do this, we are placing high importance on caring for our community’s most vulnerable, honouring our citizens’ human rights and adopting ever more progressive models of care.
The people of Canberra understand what competent government means and also what genuine leadership is. I think we can agree that the people of Canberra see those opposite in this place and they make their decisions accordingly. They are performing particularly poorly at the moment, and their consistent attack on my leadership today, on the leadership of a successful government—and their jeers today, their behaviour every day in question time—indicate just how desperate they are.
This government encapsulates the fundamental elements of leadership. Our vision, our foresight and our commitment to this vision were made explicit this week when I delivered the statement of the ACT government’s priorities for 2011-12. This government is one which not only has vision and sets targets, but also is determined to progress our vision and report back to the community regularly on our progress.
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