Page 2856 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 29 June 2011
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It has not been a good start. It has not been a good start from the new Chief Minister in showing that she is different from her predecessor. She can show that she is different, but she has not made a good start either as a minister for health or since she became Chief Minister. We have not seen openness.
What happens if we look at the issue even in our recent estimates process? The way this government handled the documents in relation to their government office block shows the lack of conviction when it comes to backing up the words the Chief Minister has spoken. If they were serious about it, they would not have been dropping their data, which were thrown together, at the end of the process of the questioning of officials. That kind of stunt that was pulled by the Treasurer does not reflect well if you believe in openness and transparency.
This motion today is important because the people of the ACT deserve to know what is contained in the functional review that was conducted in 2006. They deserve to know. There has been a continual lack of transparency displayed by the government, particularly on this issue. This has caused distrust and a lack of confidence in our system of governance. This document is at the heart of some of that distrust.
Since 2006 the government’s actions as a result of the Costello review have led to things like the closure of 23 government schools, affecting approximately 15 communities; the disbandment of the sustainability expert reference group; cuts to advisory bodies; cuts to the ACTION bus network; cuts to tourism; changes to employer superannuation; an increase in the rates of taxes; cuts to business support programs; indexing rates by WPI rather than CPI; and a reduction in community sports facilities.
This report formed the basis of some pretty savage cuts. The government have never revealed why that was the case. They have never acknowledged that there was lots of wasteful spending, which was quite obvious and had very little to do with structural reforms. We have a situation where the Costello review, the secret Costello review, formed the heart of the government’s decision to start charging Canberrans much more for their rates and their charges and formed the basis of this government’s decision to rip the heart out of school communities, having said prior to the election that they would not do that.
They said before the election that they would not close any schools, and they turned around and said: “We have got a secret report. We know what we said before the election.” It was Katy Gallagher who said it; it was Katy Gallagher who promised before the election not to close schools. She said: “We know we have got that. We know we said that. But we have got a report.” What does the report say? “We can’t tell you what it says. All we can tell you is that we have to close some schools, we have to increase your taxes and we have to cut some of your services.”
That kind of lack of transparency around what is a very important issue for the community goes to the heart of why this government is lacking in credibility and why Katy Gallagher as Chief Minister will not be believed on her apparent renewed commitment to openness and transparency—when this is the record and this is the ongoing record.
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