Page 806 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
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Erindale and upgrades of our local sports grounds. These are the kinds of things that people would expect from their local government, the kinds of things they are not getting from their local government at the moment. There is no doubt about it. Tuggeranong residents have endured 10 years of massive rates increases. They have not been given adequate community facilities in return.
This policy was based on listening to the community. It was based on looking at where the gaps are, where the areas for improvement are, and responding to that. It came from my colleagues and me doorknocking, having shopping centre stalls and listening to what the community was telling us. Not only did we listen; we then came out with the policies that reflected the needs and the desires of the community.
We still cannot for the life of us understand why the Labor Party and the Greens are so hostile to this idea. Why are they so hostile to this idea? We hear from Katy Gallagher today, in quite an arrogant fashion, claiming this overwhelming electoral mandate. Let us be clear: the Labor Party got fewer votes than the Liberal Party and it was only by selling their souls to the Greens that they ended up in government.
But putting that aside, no-one could doubt that the people of Tuggeranong voted for a change of government at the last election. If the Labor Party do not want to listen to that, they will get a worse result in four years time than they had at the 2012 election. No-one could doubt the message coming from Tuggeranong to the Labor Party; no one could doubt the strength of that message. But they did not—
Ms Burch: And how are you treating them, Zed? Walking away.
MR SESELJA: Ms Burch interjects. She somehow thinks—and this is the problem with the Labor Party: they somehow think that that result was all about Zed or all about one individual factor. It was not. It was a rejection of what the Labor Party and the Greens have stood for, for years. It is the culmination of the people of Tuggeranong saying enough is enough. If you think that somehow you are going to be able to get them back just because I might not be on the ticket at the next election, you have another think coming. This is where the Labor Party does not get it. This is where they simply do not get it.
A senior member of this government said to me after the election, with some amount of shock and surprise, “Richardson, 46 per cent; what’s going on there?” I will tell you what is going on there: the people of Richardson, the people of Chisholm and the people of the Lanyon valley right across the board have seen this government in action for a long time and they no longer want anything to do with them. It could not be a clearer message.
This motion today is about saying, “Perhaps, having done your deal with the Greens, having squeaked back into government, you might actually listen to the areas of Canberra that overwhelmingly rejected you.” And Tuggeranong valley is a prime example of an area that overwhelmingly rejected this government.
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