Page 860 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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Using the public service this way cheapens its purpose and undermines faith in government. It makes it easier to view the public service as less than it is. It is no wonder that this same government is outsourcing and privatising the core business of the public service. From service delivery to policy development, the Liberals and the Nationals cannot see a function they do not want privatised or pork-barrelled. They then publish dodgy analysis to back up their claims of private sector efficiency to allow them to continue giving contracts and tenders to their mates. This is all the federal government is about.
Put simply, the current government is a shambolic collection of people who all hate each other but seemingly come together with one common purpose—hating Canberra more. They see Canberra every few weeks, coming in on their taxpayer-funded flights, staying in their taxpayer-funded houses and being driven by their taxpayer-funded drivers. They do not see the real Canberrans who work hard every single day and pay their own way in this town. They see only pawns they can move around a chess board. It is truly saddening that they miss out on the real Canberra.
Once again, while our city is under attack by the fly-in, fly-out members of this federal government, the only local Liberal is nowhere to be seen. Senator Seselja is missing in action again. It seems the only news this federal Liberal government ever has for Canberra is bad news. I wish the local Canberra Liberals would actually do something on this issue, but the only time I ever hear the Canberra Liberals speak out on this issue is when we say something and they meekly stand up and say, “Oh, I guess we also have a problem with this.” If they did have a problem they would stand up and do something of their own volition.
The people of Canberra are not playthings. No-one asked for the APVMA to be moved to Tamworth. No-one is asking for the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to move to four separate locations. The experts who have built up decades of experience in pest and water management certainly did not ask for it. No-one has explained how it will make these agencies perform better. It is embarrassingly obvious that this is just pork-barrelling. I am angry that we are here again talking about more jobs being moved from Canberra for partisan Liberal reasons. I am angry that the Liberal and Nationals parties continue to do this. The only thing we can do is vote out this federal government.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (3.54): I thank Ms Cheyne for her motion, which details concerns about the commonwealth government’s policy of decentralisation and its potential effects on the ACT. This policy, proposed and championed by the coalition government, and the detrimental effect it would have on our Canberra community warrants our concern and discussion here in this place. I am very pleased that everybody that has spoken today is in favour of this motion. I am particularly pleased that Miss C Burch is in favour of the motion without amendment as well.
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