Page 1722 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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Mr Corbell got it right yesterday when he said that we are in a situation where both sides of politics federally are dudding the ACT. So there is an admission from two. Remember that these are the members that were mute last year. They all had the chance to say this in their speeches last year. None of them did. Indeed, the Treasurer last year, when we had a motion on last year’s federal budget, did not say a word. He pretended to be waiting for somebody else to speak, and when I got up to close he did not jump to his feet; he was mute.
In some ways, you could make the case that the budget being delivered this year should have been delivered last year, but that would be to acknowledge that the then federal Labor government—I cannot remember whether it was Gillard or Rudd who was in charge, because they changed so often—had abandoned the ACT in the lead-up to the federal election. Of course, they did not want that to happen. There we have it. That is the truth of the matter here.
Ms Gallagher got up and said, “This is a government that cares deeply.” You did not care last year. You were silent on these cuts, Chief Minister. You did not stand up last year and say, “Stop it, federal Labor government.” You abandoned the people of the ACT. You said that it was an incredible challenge. Yes. That is because you did not prepare in previous years, and you certainly did not prepare last year for what was coming.
There is the quote from Robert Macklin in the CityNews:
ANDREW Barr’s sudden discovery that “recession” was looming was equally unimpressive. Bleating is not an option, Andrew. Did you really not see the Abbott/Hockey steamroller coming …
And what did you do when the Gillard-Rudd steamroller flattened this town? Let us remember, members, that it is 14,473 jobs that the head of the finance department said are attributable to Labor cuts.
Let us have a look at the motion in detail. Part (1) notes:
… the ACT Budget provides for significant investment in the Canberra community by creating jobs and growing the economy through transformational projects …
What are these transformational projects? Which one is starting today? Which one is shovel ready? Which one will deliver these jobs this year when they are required? The answer is: none of them are ready. Capital metro is not ready. The subacute facility is not ready. The stadium is not ready.
Treasurer, I have to say thank you for the either $1.5 million or $9.5 million that may or may not appear for the convention centre. I know that you could not bring yourself to make it a neat 10, because you voted against the motion in the last sitting week, but at least there is a bit of dedicated money—1½ clearly; the rest is obscured by being not for publication in the budget. But even the convention centre will take some two years to get to shovel-ready status. That is the hallmark of a government that was not
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