Page 3793 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 2011

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What do we see from those opposite? They have voted against every dollar we have invested in infrastructure and jobs for the past three years. I have been quite interested to listen to the debate from those on the opposite side of the house as they have attempted to support public servants in the ACT and as they have attempted to support nurses, teachers, police, fire officers and ambulance officers. In fact, they voted against every pay packet received by an ACT nurse, teacher, ambulance officer and fire officer, and all public servants, for the past three years. It is no surprise that they stand mute as the federal Liberals threaten to sack 12,000 Canberrans. It is no surprise they stand mute as the federal Liberals promise to revisit 1996 on Canberrans again, when house prices fell, the population fell and retailers suffered. This was all as a result of the Liberals sacking Canberrans.

The Chief Minister has stood up for Canberra. She has written to the federal Liberals regarding their scheme to sack Canberrans. Today we call on the Leader of the Opposition to follow the Chief Minister’s lead. I am not going to hold my breath on that, but I call on him to do that, to write to his federal colleagues—to write to Mr Hockey, to write to Mr Abbott—and suggest to them that to do what they are proposing would decimate Canberra. If those on the other side of the house care about Canberra and Canberrans, as they are constantly telling us they do, then they will do this.

As I said, I am not holding my breath, but today we call on the Leader of the Opposition to follow the lead of the Chief Minister. We call on him to stand up for the Canberra community. We call on him to write to his federal colleagues regarding their anti-Canberra worker scheme. We call on him to publicly denounce the federal Liberal scheme to sack Canberrans.

MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.22): I move:

Omit all words after “notes”, substitute:

(a) the cuts to national institutions instigated by the Federal Labor Government;

(b) the cuts to the National Capital Authority instigated by the Federal Labor Government and supported by ACT Labor;

(d) the 1.5% efficiency dividend imposed by the Federal Labor Government that will rip over $1 billion out of the public service in the budget forward estimates;

(e) prospective job cuts from the Federal Labor Government to protect their promise of a budgetary surplus in 2012-2013;

(f) that the ACT Leader of the Opposition has written to both Labor and Liberal Federal leaders in relation to protecting Commonwealth Public Service jobs in Canberra;

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