Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 Hansard (15 May) . . Page.. 1273 ..

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Speaker, I thank the honourable - is he honourable? I do not know whether he is honourable or not - - -

MR SPEAKER: No, not in this chamber. That is not a criticism of the member.

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Speaker, the short answer to the member's question is: Of course not. What I was saying was that there were 2,300 jobs created during the 12 months since the election of the Carnell Liberal Government.

Mr Berry: No. There are 2,300 more on the unemployment list.

MR DE DOMENICO: I am answering Mr Whitecross's question, by the way, Mr Speaker. The would-be Leader of the Opposition, I know, always interjects.

MR SPEAKER: Just continue answering Mr Whitecross.

MR DE DOMENICO: By way of comparison, Mr Speaker, I think, under the same circumstances and under the same criteria, 700 jobs were created in the last year of the Follett Government. I think three times as many is not a bad record.

MR WHITECROSS: I would like to ask a supplementary question. I would not exactly call that an answer to the question, Mr Speaker. Mr De Domenico, is it not true that, in fact, in the last 12 months, according to the ABS, 1,000 extra jobs have been created but 2,100 extra people are unemployed; that, since November last year, 4,300 fewer people are employed than were employed at that time; and that 2,000 fewer people have full-time jobs than in November last year?

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Speaker, I have not seen the figures that Mr Whitecross is referring to; but, whether Mr Whitecross likes it or not, since the election of the Carnell Liberal Government, the figure is 2,300 for the first 12 months. In the previous 12 months, under the Follett Labor Government, there were 700 jobs created. So, that is about three times as many, Mr Speaker - not a bad record after being in government for only 12 months.

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, through you, I put a question to Mr De Domenico, who is, amongst other things, the Minister for Tourism. Minister, the question that we have just heard is yet another in a whole series of questions through which the Opposition talks down the ACT and presents nothing but a picture of doom and gloom. It is my understanding that that is not totally the case. Could you enlighten the members of the Assembly, particularly the Opposition, on the current state of ACT tourism, for example?

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .