Page 5874 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 7 December 2011
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As I have said, my motion repeats in almost identical terms a motion moved in this place on 24 August by Ms Porter. Obviously, the variations relate to the request for the Chief Minister to write to her Labor Party colleagues in federal parliament expressing grave concern about the federal government’s proposal to reduce public sector employment in the ACT.
Government members interjecting—
Mr Hanson: Madam Assistant Speaker—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Le Couteur): One moment, Mr Smyth. Mr Hanson.
Mr Hanson: Madam Assistant Speaker, could you ask the cacophony opposite to quieten down a bit?
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Members of the government, please be quiet. Mr Smyth, you have the floor.
MR SMYTH: I think it is fascinating that the attempts by Ms Porter to find fault with the purported actions of the federal Liberal Party have now come home to roost well and truly. How do Ms Porter and Ms Gallagher and their ACT Labor colleagues now defend their federal Labor colleagues in the face of the decisions announced in the recent federal mini budget? I could move my motion simply by taking Ms Porter’s speech on 24 August and replacing “Liberal” with “Labor” and “Labor” with “Liberal”. But that would be a bit too close to home, wouldn’t it? Nevertheless, the sentiments are precisely the same in my motion as they are in Ms Porter’s motion, only with the roles reversed.
I want to spend a few moments looking at what Ms Porter said in her motion on 24 August as it provides a very illuminating insight as to where we have got to in this broad debate. It is perhaps best just to go to the finishing paragraphs of Ms Porter’s speech. I have quoted from the first. I will read them again. The first couple of paragraphs say:
I am happy to move this important motion regarding the destruction of jobs in Canberra. On this subject the difference between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party could not be more stark. The contrast goes to the very essence of our philosophy as opposed to that of those opposite.
I think the philosophy just got thrown out. It was very careless of Ms Porter to be so careless with her philosophy. That philosophy, apparently, is the same as the Liberal Party philosophy or vice versa. Ms Porter talks about the slashing and burning of the Howard government, and we all remember those years. Indeed, it was a Liberal government, part-way through cleaning up the mess of the former Labor government in this place, that had to deal with those dilemmas. She goes on to say:
Labor, on the other hand, has always been the party of working people and the party that creates jobs. Consistent with its charter of working to improve the lot of every citizen, Labor has always been in the business of creating jobs.
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