Page 313 - Week 01 - Thursday, 27 February 2014
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MR SMYTH (Brindabella), by leave: Members, I think you really should read both reports. It is interesting to note that when you go to the government’s submissions—
Members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Barr: It didn’t take long to read yours, did it?
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
MR SMYTH: No, it will not take long to read our report because it is succinct.
Mr Barr: Succinct!
MR SMYTH: It is succinct. It is straight to the point.
Members interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
MR SMYTH: What it points out—
Mr Barr interjecting—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr! I call you to order. You had plenty of leeway.
MR SMYTH: I do thank members for their leave to go through the dissenting report that I put forward. Regional engagement should be a regular function of the ACT government. It should be. It has not been. That is the problem. There is an interesting quote—I think it is from George Orwell—that says that he who controls the past controls the future, and he who controls the present controls the past. It is about understanding what has happened. The draft report from the committee did not go to any of the history in any detail about the failures of this government. You really do have to understand that there was a system in place that was working reasonably well.
I think you only have to go to some of the quotes. It is stated that:
In May 1996 sub-regional partners consisting of the ACT and NSW Governments, NSW councils of Yass, Yarrowlumla, Gunning, Queanbeyan and Cooma-Monaro, and the Commonwealth commenced a strategic planning·project to develop a Framework …
It was happening. The regret from many of the councils that put in submissions is that it stopped when the Stanhope government came to office. Not only did it stop; the attitude of the Stanhope government for many years was so dismissive of the councils that they certainly did not look to the ACT government of the last decade for leadership at all.
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