Page 4600 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 19 October 2011

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(b) the new ACT Chief Planner’s recent statements calling for the decentralisation of government departments in the ACT;

(d) the importance of allocating capital to the most important projects to the community; and

(e) the high vacancy rate in the ACT office market; and

(2) calls on the ACT Government to immediately abandon this $432 million project.

This motion that I have moved today is about priorities and is about values.

Mr Barr: It is the same motion you moved two months ago, is it not? The government is now going to have an opportunity—

MR SESELJA: I am getting the heckling already. I can see the sensitivity of the minister on this. I reckon deep down he knows it is a dud. I reckon deep down the minister knows it is a dud. That is why he is already interjecting. He does not want to have to vote again in favour of a government office building that he knows in his heart of hearts this government should walk away from. We can make it really easy for him. Walk away today. Vote for the motion. Walk away. Cut your losses and get on with serving the people of Canberra in the way that they deserve to be served instead of pursuing this flawed, overpriced government office building.

The motion has a number of aspects to it and I will talk through them individually. But clearly the government has signalled its intention, its plan. It is committed to spending $432 million on a government office block that it will own, build and run. I will get to (b) in a second, but before I get to (b) I will go to the other aspects of the motion.

This government office block is the most expensive project in the history of the ACT government. Let us reflect on that for a moment. This government’s priorities, ACT Labor’s priorities, are to spend the largest capital allocation that it has ever spent, not on delivering services to the community, not on, say, roads or on public transport, not on ovals or on schools; the largest single capital project that this government is committing to is a government office block that we do not need and cannot afford. Let us just put that into perspective for a moment.

The motion also goes on and talks about the importance of allocating capital to the most important projects to the community. There is only so much this government can spend, that any government can spend, on capital projects. If you devote $430 million of it to an office project you do not need, there is less for the things the community needs and for the things the community wants and deserves.

It also notes the high vacancy rate in the current ACT office market. The proposal is taking an important part of industry in the ACT and making things worse in that

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