Page 11 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 6 November 2012
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My deliberations, after finding out the final election results, were thought about very much with the view of achieving the best for all Canberrans, irrespective of whom they had voted for. My mind was very much on getting the best outcomes for the future of this city and on thinking about the issues that people have spoken about during the election campaign both to me and to other members of the Assembly.
My final decision about whom to support to form government with was based on good policy and a capacity to deliver stable government to the ACT. The result of those discussions is the parliamentary agreement signed by me and Ms Gallagher. The agreement includes a comprehensive list of policies, initiatives and reforms to be implemented over the next four years for all Canberrans. That document is available on the web. I think that is important so that all of the community may access it. In so doing they will see that it covers a range of issues which they consider to be very important.
From my perspective some of the highlights include the start of a light rail network for Canberra, a project that will transform our city, cut our greenhouse emissions and tackle the congestion that more and more Canberrans are facing every single day. We will tackle fixing up our lakes—some have been experiencing increasing problems—through a comprehensive set of initiatives to improve the water quality in our waterways.
The agreement continues with significant action on climate change to meet our legislated 40 per cent greenhouse gas reduction target, including through generating or supplying 90 per cent of our electricity through renewable energy. The agreement seeks to combat homelessness through the common ground project in the ACT, and it commits to implementation of the Gonski approach to education funding to achieve fairer and more transparent funding when it comes to our vital education system.
As part of the discussions last week, I have accepted an offer to join the cabinet as a minister. I do believe it is time, after 17 years of the Greens being represented on the crossbench of this Assembly, for us to play a role in government. With the agreement
and the role in cabinet I look forward to playing my part in the cabinet team to deliver a fairer and more sustainable future for our city—for the city that we all call home.
Under this agreement I will also continue to play a role as a Greens member of the Assembly on the crossbench. Whilst I and the Labor Party enter into our agreement committed to cooperating and building a positive partnership, I also anticipate there may well be times when we will not see eye to eye. At those times we will use our best endeavours to reach a decision we can all agree upon. However, where that is not possible, I do retain the right to absent myself from cabinet and vote against the proposal here in the Assembly. I for one do not foresee that that will be a regular occurrence and it will be a pathway I will only follow after very careful consideration.
In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge the work of my three previous colleagues and their staff over the last four years. The work of Meredith Hunter, Amanda Bresnan and Caroline Le Couteur lives on in the parliamentary agreement that I signed with the Labor Party last week. I would not have had the ability to put forward
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