Page 1818 - Week 05 - Thursday, 10 May 2018
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This push for decentralisation is being promoted as a way of boosting regional centres and creating jobs. The Canberra Liberals are of course in favour of job creation. We are just not in favour of moving jobs around for the sake of it. Canberra is itself a thriving regional centre away from the big cities of Sydney and Melbourne. We want to make sure that it continues to grow and thrive.
Ms Cody has today conveniently forgotten that it was the Gillard Labor government that began the process of decentralisation. When they set up the national disability insurance scheme did they base it in Canberra, near the national centre of government, near the centre of social services policy? Did they put it where it could be administered efficiently? Did they integrate it with FAHCSIA at Tuggeranong? No, they moved FAHCSIA staff to Geelong in Victoria. They set up the NDIA there to promote Labor votes in Corio and Corangamite. They also located Infrastructure Australia and other entities outside Canberra.
Ms Cody has conveniently ignored the fact that this federal budget delivers a net increase in APS jobs. She stood here and rattled off job losses but perhaps needs a maths lesson. This budget has created 912 jobs, a net increase over the next 12 months, many of which will be in Canberra. The Department of Home Affairs is rapidly expanding. DFAT, the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science will all be employing more people. The AFP, ASIO, AusTrack, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission are all also employing more people. That is a net increase of 912 jobs.
Ms Cody has also conveniently failed to provide any context around the agencies which are being moved. These are not large agencies, as she would like to have you believe. They are small business units or offices within much larger departments. As I have said, the Canberra Liberals do not support the decentralisation of the APS and recognise the threat of decentralisation is causing uncertainty and worry to many of our small business owners.
However, Ms Cody and her Labor colleagues have claimed on numerous occasions that the federal coalition government is going to destroy the ACT economy and smash the value of house prices. This has not happened. House prices in Canberra are up 25 per cent since 2013.
In talking about the impact of public service job losses on the ACT economy, Ms Cody has also conveniently ignored that where job losses have gone from the public service the work of the federal government has not stopped. As does Ms Cody’s own government, the federal coalition government uses contracting and service level agreements to deliver many public services. Federal government spending on contractors has doubled since 2013. While these may not be public service jobs, they are still jobs created by the federal coalition government, largely in Canberra. There are in fact 17,300 more people in work in the ACT since the coalition federal government was elected.
Ms Cody has selectively chosen to take a very pessimistic view of the impact of this federal budget on Canberra and on Canberrans. Over 190,000 Canberrans will benefit
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