Page 804 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 April 2014
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Mr Corbell and Mr Rattenbury say that they have powers. Yes, they do have powers and they should have powers to get to the bottom of all of the dilemmas that face the industry and therefore come back to affect us as a society. It is an important industry to the ACT, whether it be the jobs that it creates, the investment that it builds, the profits that it generates that obviously get reinvested or, indeed, the homes and offices that we work in that should be the best that we can deliver.
Mr Coe in his speech said that there was a litany of things that would create success. It is about having fair fees and fines. It is about having a reasonable level of regulatory burden. It is about attacking rogue builders and phoenix companies, and weeding them out of our industry and our society.
But if you take note of the litany of adverse stories that seem to continue, despite the work that the government has done, there is something more to be done, and that is the reason for this. It is about having a strategic and a long-term response to cleaning up the industry and making the industry more productive, getting more out of it and building a better city.
We have seen the shift by the government. Only yesterday we had the debate on their priority projects bill. To have to have a priority projects bill says that something is not working. In the main that is probably your land release and the availability and delivery of land release, and it is the level of regulatory burden and comprehensibility of government-issued rules, codes, plans and laws. The fact that the government have to bring such a bill forward says that, (1), they are late to the game and, (2), they are slow to respond.
It was interesting to read Robert Macklin’s comment that Andrew Barr had suddenly found that there might be something looming on the horizon with an Abbott-Hockey government. This side of the house has acknowledged that we also have fears about what might happen on the hill. We know now that the 14,457 jobs that are slated to go are Labor’s cuts—something that the other side will not acknowledge.
It is well and good to blame Abbott. Go for your life; you will. We understand the politics of it. But the reality is that you should be taking to task Gillard and Rudd for their mismanagement and for using public servants, particularly ACT public servants, to balance items on their budget.
The Liberal Party in this place is the only party that stands up against all comers on the issue of jobs. Let us go back to the cuts by Rudd to the National Gallery, where the chief cheerleader of the cuts, Andrew Barr, was saying it was good because––
Mr Barr: Pinocchio, your nose is growing and growing.
MR SMYTH: that would mean people were coming to Canberra. Cutting regional projects––
MADAM SPEAKER: Sit down, Mr Smyth. Withdraw that comment now, Mr Barr.
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