Page 2395 - Week 06 - Thursday, 10 May 2012
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It is probably best to leave most of Mr Smyth’s comments alone and recognise them for what they were. But it is fascinating. Mr Smyth is a very experienced member of this place. It is interesting to think about how he might exercise the balance of power if he had it. The answer seems to be to block supply. I am sure that that is a discussion that will be very interesting to have on an ongoing basis. How should a balance of power party operate? Do you paralyse government? Is that what Mr Smyth is proposing? Or do you work to get actual outcomes that can make a difference?
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MR RATTENBURY: Poor Mr Smyth; he cannot help himself. He cannot help himself. I sat there and listened to him pretty much quietly, but as soon as I start to reflect on some of the outrageous comments that he made, he and his colleagues start immediately interjecting across the chamber—as they do every time I get on my feet. It is almost tedious.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne): Order! Mr Rattenbury, it may be better if you address the chair rather than the opposition benches. Perhaps then you would not elicit such responses.
MR RATTENBURY: Madam Assistant Speaker, I was addressing the chair, and I am happy to continue to do so. It seems that the Liberal Party approach to dealing with the balance of power is to block supply. That is a salient lesson in how they operate.
The reality of having the balance of power requires a little more subtlety than that. It requires one to both push the envelope at the right moment and also ensure that government actually goes on in this town. At the end of this term, my Greens colleagues and I will happily stand in this place and stand by our record of ensuring that government has continued in this town whilst being improved by the ideas and the accountability the Greens have brought to it.
I would simply conclude my remarks today by seeking leave to table a copy of the weathering the change action plan 1 assessment report that was released a couple of weeks ago.
Leave granted.
MR RATTENBURY: I table the following paper:
Climate change—Weathering the Change—Action Plan 1—An ACT Greens’ Assessment of Progress, dated April 2012.
MR RATTENBURY: Thank you, colleagues. That report is one that we have put in the public space as a contribution to the debate and one that will, hopefully, be read by members of the government, members of the opposition and those that work in the department—for all of us to reflect on what programs have worked, what has proven to have an impact on the community, what has not worked as well and how we might do things better in the future.
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