Page 2409 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 June 2013
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Madam Speaker, that has been the big deceit of this government, but it is not the first and as many people have found out, it is not the last. The CPSU found out recently what Katy Gallagher’s word was worth when she said before the last election that pay negotiations would start right after the election. But as is reported in the Canberra Times:
… Mr McDevitt said ACT public servants had been “shafted” and accused the government of delaying the start of negotiations to ensure the “inferior offer” was drowned out by the budget.
After this budget the CPSU stated the budget was full of weasel words. If the CPSU cannot trust their former delegate, who can? Not the nurses. They say they have been insulted and treated without respect after being offered a pay cut in real terms and the lowest pay offer in 30 years. Not the kids who are being helped by Robert de Castella, who would have heard Katy Gallagher say last Friday week that the ACT Labor government was committed to tackling obesity while at the same time she was ceasing their funding. Not the homeowners who will see their rates go up 40 per cent in this term and tripled in under 12 years. Not the builders who were told commence and complete charges would be waived but are, in many cases, getting bills that have doubled. Not even the Canberra Times, who thought they were getting an objective view of the budget from a constituent who neglected to mention he was a Labor staffer and even edits the Labor party journal. And certainly not the ACT public servants whose jobs will be cut in this budget when Labor was running a scare campaign about a secret Liberal plan to cut jobs.
It turns out there was a secret plan, but it was Katy Gallagher’s and Andrew Barr’s. Katy Gallagher and Andrew Barr claimed there would be no job losses. So tell that, then, to the 100 staff who are going to be cut from the education directorate or the 17 at the CIT. Tell that to the 38 staff being cut from the Community Services Directorate. Where was Mrs Burch during the scare campaign? Where is she with this now?
Madam Speaker, it is an inescapable fact that this government does not tell the truth. They did not tell it in 2004, they did not tell the truth in 2008, they did not tell the truth at the 2012 election, and they do not have the truth in this budget. How do you trust a government that is so morally bankrupt that it derives millions of dollars from the proceeds of poker machines to fund its election campaigns? That is money that comes out of the pockets of Canberra families, in some cases from problem gamblers, and then is used to fund slick television ads for Katy Gallagher to tell those same families how much she cares about them.
We think there is a better way, and I will tell you, Madam Speaker, about this in some detail. We believe a government must have the trust of the people. Trust is not achieved by policies that are not delivered, promises that are not honoured, and words that are not actioned. It is a fundamental aspect of who you are, and this government and Labor have developed a culture of not telling the truth. That is why we should do everything we can to make sure that scrutiny and accountability of this government is maximised.
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