Page 753 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 17 March 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
department out of Belconnen. The immigration department has been one of the major employers in Belconnen for over 30 years, since the new town centre was being developed. The 4,000 workers in Immigration in Belconnen are a major part of the local community and the Belconnen economy. While this ACT Labor government is doing all it can to support small businesses, the federal Liberal proposal for relocating so many long-term workers from Belconnen is a major threat to Belconnen businesses, small and large, that serve and rely on those workers and the department’s spending.
The federal Liberal government is fond of calling “sovereign risk” over issues like the mining super-profit tax and other changes. How about they stand up for small businesses, their forgotten people, like this ACT Labor government does, and rule out the arbitrary move of the immigration department from Belconnen.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (4.31): The question that really needs to be asked is: why do we need to have a single shopfront for ACT government when it comes to business investment—the one-stop shop, as it is being named. Any initiative that makes it easier for a business to open its doors, establish in Canberra, invest in Canberra, create jobs, create wealth and create employment opportunities certainly needs to be encouraged, but after 4,873 days of disruptive Labor governing by the ACT Labor government they have created such a mess, such a web, such a minefield that it is impossible for local businesses to navigate and for local investors—investors from anywhere in the world, for that matter—to look at the ACT as a jurisdiction and say, “I know what I am going to be up for if I want to open my doors and invest or open a business in this territory.” It is simply so complicated, with so much red tape, bureaucratic nonsense and impossible regulation, that the government, after 13 years, has now come to the conclusion that the solution is a one-stop shop.
Instead of going in the alternative direction, which is most definitely the position of the Canberra Liberals, and unpicking that red tape, unpicking that regulation and making it easier to encourage investment in this territory, this government has put its hands up and said, “Too hard; let’s just have a one-stop shop. We’ll give it a flashy name, with a flashy headline, and that will presumably make it easier.”
I speak from experience, and I can speak from the experience of constituents, friends and family in this area. One of the biggest bugbears I had prior to entering politics was the issues you have going through the development application process, particularly when you make a merit-based application to ACTPLA and the government has a statutory time to respond to the application and make a determination. What happens when the bureaucrats are going through the criteria? As soon as a red flag comes up, they go, “There’s an error.” Out of 130 criteria, No 10, say, has a problem. They put the application down. They will send an email or a letter off to the applicant and say, “We need this issue addressed.” Not until that issue is addressed does the application get picked up again and looked at—until the next red flag comes up. They do not consider looking at an application with a holistic approach, saying, “All right, there are six or seven areas where we need a bit more information before we can make a decision,” putting one request in to the applicant and saying, “Can you come back to us with some more information?” and then turning in the opposite direction to make a final decision. In many instances there is a back and forth five, six, seven, eight or sometimes more times before a decision is made. That
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video