Page 683 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
At the end of 11 years, where do we find ourselves? We find ourselves with a $181 million deficit. We can say many things about how well we have managed, what we have done and all these things, but at the end of the day, if you go out into the community and ask whether people have an enhanced sense of wellbeing and are confident that they can afford to meet the cost of living in the ACT, you will find that the simple answer is no. No, they do not. The problem is that they do not have confidence in leadership and they do not see a path forward. There is a boom and bust cycle in Canberra. Sometimes it is run by Labor governments federally and sometimes it is run by Liberal governments, but often it is this place that picks up the mess.
There is also a level of hypocrisy in some of what is said in the motion. I remember the disgraceful attacks on Kate Carnell and the double standards from the Labor Party who, at a really tough time in this city’s history, did nothing but talk the economy down. They did it constantly. But no; we will forget that. We turn a blind eye to our sins, don’t we? But that is politics and that is the past.
Ms Porter says in her motion that the ACT economy “has performed well across many sectors”. We should consider that statement carefully. I was always told that retail was the eye on your economy—that you need to watch retail because, oddly enough, people know how things are going and how things are occurring because it is their cost of living that they feel intimately every day.
Let me look at the cost of living figures over the last 12 months. I will use the trend data, because the trend data is the preferred approach according to the Bureau of Statistics. Let me go to ABS retail trade catalogue No 8501.0. What has actually been going on in this astounding economy that Ms Porter talks about? In January 2011 it grew by 0.2 per cent. In February it contracted by 0.2 per cent. In March it contracted by 0.5. In April it contracted by 0.7. In May it contracted by 0.5. In June it contracted by 0.3 per cent. In July it was static. In August it grew by 0.1. In September it grew by 0.1 per cent. In October, November and December it did not grow at all.
Retail is the eyes on the economy. Tonight we have all watched with interest the scene that is playing out across the world. It is a world stage now that Mr Rudd stalks across. The lack of leadership at the federal level is affecting the ACT economy as well as the lack of leadership at the local level.
You only need to look at the trend data in retail sales to know that that is not an economy that is doing as well as it could—as well as it should so that we can support the essential services that people deserve and need. What happens if you go out and talk to the shopkeepers? What happens if you go out and talk to the people working in retail? I was at Tuggeranong on Friday. Talk to the book people who say that book sales are not happening. Talk to someone in a coffee shop who says, “In December I was down 20 per cent on last year.” When people are not buying that extra cup of coffee—or the first cup of coffee—you have a slight problem. We can quote statistics and say, “Aren’t we doing well?” or we can acknowledge the fact that it is not as good as it should be.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video