Page 149 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 11 February 2015
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MR SMYTH: It will create 50,000 new jobs, capital metro? It will employ 50,000 people, Mr Gentleman? You need to get your facts straight. What the report says is it will bring 49,000 jobs into the corridor. It does not tell you where those jobs come from, Mr Gentleman. Those jobs come from other parts of Canberra. It does not claim to create new jobs. In terms of employment on capital metro, my memory is it is 54 jobs to operate the capital metro. What the convention centre delivers is 1,400 jobs.
Again, it is not my report. EY did it. The net contribution to Canberra BCR is 2.4. Sometimes it is hard to compare infrastructure projects, but the BCR on capital metro is 1.2. You choose: 2.4 or 1.2.
Mr Barr: And you knew exactly what the EY representative said about comparing those businesses.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Barr!
MR SMYTH: And that is what I said. I just said that. It is difficult to compare.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, can you sit down, please. Stop the clock. Mr Barr, you take exception to people interjecting over you. I called you to order and you did not come to order. Can I call you to order and remind you that you do not like it when people interject over you and you should keep that in mind.
Mr Barr: Madam Speaker, on indulgence, I accept your ruling, but, given the number of times that the Leader of the Opposition interjects compared to my interjections, it is a ratio of about 100 to 1. I know you called him to order before and I appreciate that.
MADAM SPEAKER: Are you sure you want to do this, Mr Barr, or do you want—
Mr Barr: I said on indulgence, Madam Speaker. I am raising this point. I accept your ruling.
MADAM SPEAKER: You do not have indulgence. Sit down.
MR SMYTH: I made it quite clear. The gentleman who delivered the report said it is very hard to compare these things. But I am just saying here is one that creates more jobs, a lot more jobs, when it is operating and has a very strong BCR. It brings revenue. But it is also the things beyond that. I am living somewhere else in the world. Will I fly to Canberra, fly to the new international airport, when the international flights appear to go to a city that has a great conference and convention centre? I wonder how many people are actually going to come for a ride on the tram. I suspect the difference between those two groups would be enormous.
Mr Barr then rails against the privatisation agenda and fiscal restraint. He is the man, as Mr Hanson pointed out, who shut 23 schools and he is the man who has just sold ACTTAB. He is the man who is looking at selling the streetlights. He said that there are other assets on his agenda. Maybe I am not getting what the Treasurer is saying here. He is accusing me of something I have never said, but it is exactly the thing that
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