Page 449 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 March 2014
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With respect to the law precinct, of course, that was always there; it has not changed a great deal. The east-west city pathway? I do not think that exists. ACT Supreme Court? I assume he means a new Supreme Court, because the existing Supreme Court was there when the plan was released—but, of course, we do not have a new Supreme Court. Edinburgh Avenue connection? It has not happened. Commercial and residential developments with car parking underneath, inside London Circuit? It has not happened. City to West Basin connection? It has not happened. City exposition? It has not happened. Meeting place? It did not happen. City Hill as city symbol? It always was and it is, and it is still there. ACT government offices? It did not happen. Constitution Avenue connection? It did not happen. Public forum with public car park under? It did not happen. ACT Legislative Assembly? I am assuming it is a new building because it is shown in a different location. It has not happened. City lake pathway? It has not particularly happened. Commercial and residential developments in the area marked? It has not happened.
That is the problem; it does not happen under this government. This is a government of gloss, not of delivery. We have seen damning reports from the Auditor-General, particularly on Mr Corbell’s delivery of capital works. I do not even have to run through the litany. I think we all know about the faux opening of the prison and, of course, of the “before time and under budget” opening of the Gungahlin Drive extension, long after it was due. I do not think anybody was fooled. But that is the government that we deal with.
The problem is that the economy is slowing. The best solution would have been not to let the economy slow. Even though the government has now released its stimulus package, I note that the Chief Minister was vacillating a bit in question time. “Would it stimulate?” “No, I’m being cautious.” “Have you set any targets?” “No, we don’t want to do that because we don’t want to be disappointed when nothing happens.” We all remember her statement—I think it was in 2009—when she said we were too small to stimulate. Today she said that she hopes it does stimulate, “But I can’t tell you how many jobs it will create.”
Surely, you did some work before you released this document to know what its impact would be. Surely, there could be at least a broad exposition of what the effects will be and what effect it will have and, indeed, in what time frame. If the economy has started to slow—and I think we all acknowledge that it has, certainly under the fear of the Gillard-Rudd cuts, which we know the head of the finance department put at 14,000, courtesy of the former federal Labor government, despite the protestations of those opposite—the work needed to have started before now.
That is why, for instance, in the lead-up to the 2012 election we said we would review the lease variation charge. What is the government doing? It is going to wind back the lease variation charge. You have to ask the question: why would they wind back what Mr Barr said was the perfect tax? It had no drag. It had no deadweight drag. It was not going to affect the price of a block you might want to sell or the value of the house that you might want to purchase, and it was going to reap this huge dividend for the government; yet in every quarter except for the first, where you had the follow-through from the previous change of use charge, this tax has not delivered.
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