Page 1617 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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MADAM SPEAKER: The question is that the amendments be agreed to.
Mr Smyth: Are you speaking, Andrew?
Mr Barr: I may speak in the debate, but if there are other further speakers—
And he looked around the room. I was the last speaker, Madam Assistant Speaker. I stood up and said:
All right; I will close.
The man squibbed it. He walked away from it. He could not bring himself to say that he deplored federal Labor cuts. And the root of the problem that we have today in this city was born in last year’s federal budget brought about by the inefficiency and the poor handling of the federal economy by federal Labor—Rudd-Gillard-Rudd.
Ms Gallagher in her statement today spoke about the impact going beyond our borders in the region. Yes, it will. And I note the words of anger from the member for Hume when he said he deplored the job cuts as well. Nobody likes losing jobs. But he said a strong national economy is good for Canberra, and he is right. No-one gets sacked when you are in surplus. Yes, we all remember ’96 to ’99. They were tough years for Canberra. I acknowledge the fact that now that the tough times have arrived, who does Ms Gallagher look to for advice? Not to Andrew Barr. She is ringing Kate Carnell, because Kate Carnell stood up to Paul Keating and to John Howard as required as the head of the government of this territory, unlike those opposite.
Mr Barr last year was missing in action. His lack of any comment was weak. It showed his indifference to the plight of those affected by federal Labor. It shows how ineffectual he was. He was just mute. There is kind of an irony having Dr Bourke bring this debate on today, because when I looked for him in last year’s debate, he did not say a word either. He actually thought the budget that federal Labor delivered last year was okay, I assume, because he certainly did not have any comments about the job cuts, and neither did Ms Berry. She had a chance to speak in those debates and did not. Neither did Mr Gentleman. Also mute. Mary Porter last year, missing in action. Joy Burch last year, missing in action. Simon Corbell last year, missing in action. Andrew Barr, missing in action. Ms Gallagher tried; not very hard, but she did try.
Look, nobody is fooled. Everyone I know in the Australian public service knew that for the 18 months before the federal election last year there were Labor cuts going on. They were not fooled. And they were not happy then and they are not happy now. But they were not fooled, and they will not be fooled by this bleating now.
One of the funny things about this is that Robert Macklin got it right when he said in a recent edition of the City News on 3 April:
ANDREW Barr’s sudden discovery that “recession” was looming was equally unimpressive. Bleating is not an option. Bleating is not an option, Andrew. Did you really not see the Abbott/Hockey steam roller coming?
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