Page 3810 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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There is quite a remarkable contrast in the approach of the two political parties around the value that we place on jobs versus the position of the Liberal Party, particularly at a national level, where they have other priorities rather than promoting employment. That is very clear in what we have seen since the election of the Abbott government. Unemployment has risen not just in Canberra but in a variety of other locations around the country—in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. New South Wales might be the only economy in recent times where unemployment has come down a little. Everywhere else it has gone up since the election of the Abbott government, which is disappointing, but that is the result of the economic policies that are being pursued at a national level.
Where there is agreement, and where we are able to work with the commonwealth government to promote investment opportunities—I have said this before and I will say it again—Minister Andrew Robb is a very good advocate for investment into this country and into this city, and has been a very helpful partner in working with the territory government to assist us to attract new investment. That is welcome. (Time expired.)
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.41): Once again we are debating whether we live in the best city or the worst city, a doom and gloom outlook or a bright and rosy one. Members will have to excuse my poor literary reference, but I think at times the community listening to these debates would feel that they are living in a Dickens novel—A Tale of Two Cities.
Mr Smyth certainly seems to have some cognitive dissonance going here, and the Canberra Liberals seem slightly off message with this motion. On the one hand we have a litany of complaints about our economy—five worsts in the country here to be recorded in Hansard—yet on the other hand, we are being called on to stop talking down the economy and depressing business and consumer confidence.
Madam Deputy Speaker, it is a bit more nuanced than that. We have a strong economy that is facing some very real challenges. We have good economic foundations with some major national trends that we are far from immune to and, in fact, are particularly vulnerable to. We as a government, as a city, are responding to these challenges as well as can be expected in the face of the current commonwealth uncertainty.
I say “uncertainty” because while we already know of many of the last budget cuts, we are still waiting for more—budget cuts that will impact on the territory’s bottom line, yes, but, more importantly perhaps, cuts and broken promises that will negatively impact on Canberrans. These are cuts in fees that will hit health and Medicare, social service payments and education, all essential components of a positive and inclusive society and all areas that are being eroded by a government that has to resort to loopholes and tricks to bypass the Senate to pass scraps of their nasty budget.
But we are responding to these times well—quite well in fact, if we want to continue the ongoing comparisons. We are diversifying the economy. The Liberals chose to attack tax reform, particularly, no end at the last election, as we all know. So yes, let
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