Page 3136 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Coe, you are warned.
MR BARR: Then in the last week Mr Seselja refuses to debate the leader of the Greens, refuses to have Labor and the Greens in a debate. What kind of political leader, what kind of alternative Chief Minister, dodges a debate scheduled to take place just weeks before an election?
And last but not least there is the ongoing culture of arrogance within his office. Let us quote from paragraph 81 of the McLeod report, which identified:
…a culture of non-cooperation that exists within his office, a lack of sensitivity to the level of accountability expected when the management of public resources are being expended. It also reflected an attitude of disrespect towards the Clerk of the Assembly and his staff, who were there to advise and assist members in meeting their obligations.
Is this really the person that we want leading this territory? He cannot even run his own office.
The contrast is very clear. We are proud to release policy to treat voters with respect; to let them look at our policies, compare them with other parties and to decide for themselves. Your only policy is to shut down the nurse-led walk-in clinic—that is your only policy in health—a service that has been used by more than 34,000 Canberrans to date. You have no education policy. You have got nothing to say on tax reform or economic development. Your sole environmental policy is to reintroduce plastic bags. That is the contrast: the contrast in behaviour, the contrast in policy and the contrast in integrity.
It is very clear, that contrast. The Chief Minister is a person of great integrity; a person who works incredibly hard for the people of the ACT; someone whom I am very proud, along with my colleagues, to support as Chief Minister of this territory; someone who continues to hold the confidence of this Assembly and continues to hold the confidence of the people of Canberra. No matter how much mud the opposition sling, I know that the Chief Minister is a strong person who will continue to put the best interests of this community first and who will not succumb to the sort of muckraking that we see from those opposite.
The Chief Minister presides over a government and over a performance within this community that is strong and will continue to be strong. We have one of the best performing economies in the country, in a nation that has one of the best performing economies in the world. The government, through our budget, through our range of other policy programs, is focused on supporting our economy and supporting our community. But, most importantly, we are focused on supporting jobs. We have a vision and we have a detailed plan for the future of this city. We have confidence in our plans. We have confidence in our community and the resilience of our community to respond to coming challenges. The government’s reform plans and the leadership of the Chief Minister will continue to see our territory well placed to prosper in our second century.
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