Page 153 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
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MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Community Services) (11.31): I thank Ms Berry for bringing forward this motion today, because creating jobs and protecting jobs are at the heart of what this government is about. As a Labor government, we are proudly committed to doing all we can to ensure that as many territory residents as possible participate in the workforce to the best of their ability. That is why we are very proud of the fact that we have now set an all-time high level of employment in this city at 213,300 positions and that we have the lowest unemployment rate in the nation.
We are committed to implementing policies and programs that create jobs and which help our residents prepare for entering or re-entering the workforce. We are committed to doing all we can to protect jobs, to ensure we keep as many people as possible in work and that we mitigate as much as we can the impact of job cuts from the Liberals.
As I have mentioned before in this place, there is no immutable law of economics that states an economy or a region will continue growing as Canberra has done in recent years. What is needed is far-sighted and responsible assistance and support from government to help the private sector grow and to help the private sector create jobs, particularly the knowledge-based jobs that are an increasingly important part of our economy.
In responding to Ms Berry’s motion I would like to discuss some of the ways in which the Gallagher government is creating employment opportunities and supporting key sectors of our economy. To help ensure that our economy continues to create jobs, the government is focusing on creating the right conditions to allow the private sector to grow and to continue to employ.
The government’s growth, diversification and jobs business development strategy focuses on creating jobs by building strength in areas where our city has demonstrated comparative advantage and distinctiveness. The strategy has 26 separate initiatives across three strategic imperatives: creating the right business environment, supporting business investment and accelerating business innovation. The strategy needs to be and is a living document that aligns with various election commitments of the government and government responses to other developments in the economy, initiatives such as the digital city strategy and study Canberra, to mention but two.
We also seek to make it easier to do business in the city through cutting red tape and the continued work of the government’s red tape reduction panel. We continue our nation-leading program of taxation reform which abolishes inefficient taxes such as conveyance duties and duty on insurance, taxes that impact directly on business investment.
As both the Chief Minister and Dr Bourke have indicated—it is worth dwelling on again—just a few weeks ago we celebrated one of the success stories of innovation in the territory with the Canberra-based digital imaging company Lithicon achieving a sale for $76 million. The acquisition will see Lithicon increase their research and
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