Page 1725 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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MR SMYTH: The number is 2,000 in the budget. That will make it three times that, so it is about 60 bucks a head. There is your problem. This is not a government that is serious about growing the private sector here in a real, long-term, meaningful way.
We did it in 1995 to 2001. There is a debate about it later this afternoon in which I am sure we will get lots of diverse views and hear what people’s vision for Canberra might be. But if we want to beat the boom and bust cycle, the best bulwark against the federal downturns, whether it comes from a Labor government or whether it comes from a Liberal government, is to have a strong, vibrant, growing private sector, as well as maintaining the public sector. This is not against the public sector, but it is keeping and growing the private sector as a defence against the downturns that come.
If you look for that defence, if you look for those gains, there are a few crumbs here. There is a bit of money for tourism; there is a bit of money for the convention centre; there is a bit of money for the convention bureau; and there is $150,000 in the first year to get people from public to private. But there is not a vision for this city where you can say that we will move away from the dependence that we have had. We heard it from Jon Stanhope: “We will always be a government town.” It is there in the Hansard. We have heard it from the Chief Minister, Ms Gallagher: “We will always be a government town.” We know that the government do not believe that they can do a strong stimulus job. We had the comments from Ms Gallagher, when she was Treasurer, that we are too small to stimulate. I have spoken to people in the business community; they do not see a significant stimulus in this document.
If you want to be a transformational government, what you want to do is say, “Let us transform ourselves away from the public sector.” Cities like Washington have done it. They have brought more business in to make themselves more sustainable. If you want to be transformed or transformational, that is the sort of budget you should deliver. (Time expired.)
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (11.59): I will just add a few words, and thank you, Mr Rattenbury, for your amendments that we are clearly supporting. It seems that those opposite have taken the Prime Minister’s instructions very clearly. The Prime Minister has said that the role of the opposition is to complain, and Brendan Smyth spent 10 minutes complaining there and then. The Prime Minister has also said that it is the role of government to make decisions, and this is what this government has done. It has made a series of decisions, and those opposite have stood here and have just complained.
I find it interesting also that the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Hanson, came to the chamber late in the debate. It was an orderly chamber, one that allowed members to speak without interruption or without any jeering or sniggering. Mr Hanson came in. Within minutes the heckling started. Within minutes, he was actually pre-warned that if he continued he would be warned. His response to that was to pack up his laptop and leave. And he left in charge Brendan Smyth, the once leader, the once deputy leader, now third down the line, to run the complaint for the Canberra Liberals.
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