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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4078 ..

MR BERRY: And we are talking about jobs in the economy, Mr Speaker, and we are talking about stimulation of the economy.

MR SPEAKER: We are not talking about the MBA and $300,000 or whatever it is.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, if you put $300,000 into the economy, somebody is stimulated. I bet the MBA are stimulated tonight. I think they would think it is a good idea.

Mr De Domenico: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I suggest that Mr Berry is reflecting on a vote of the Assembly.

MR BERRY: I am not reflecting on a vote.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed with the Appropriation Bill.

MR BERRY: Look at the little stimuli. The $600,000 that was lost in the botched taxi auction was a fair bit of stimulus for industry. The $80,000 that was knocked off the value of every cab in town stimulated anger in the taxi drivers. I am not sure that too many of them would be going around saying that the economy is going well. I think they would probably be saying that this Government stinks. There are a few other things that need to - - -

Mrs Carnell: Mr Speaker, that was last budget. He is getting a bit confused with his years.

MR BERRY: That is right; it was last budget. I am talking about your record. You say that you are into stimulating the economy and that we should come up with some ideas. I am mentioning a few of the things that we would not have done. For example, under Labor you would not have seen 54 per cent youth unemployment for three months in a row. It has never happened before in the history of the ACT.

Mrs Carnell: What would you have done about it?

MR BERRY: There are 5,600 fewer jobs in the ACT now than there were when you came here and 2,600 more people on the unemployment lists. You say, "What would you have done?". We would not have gone out and said, "The arse has fallen out of the economy".

Mr Humphries: What would you have done positively?

MR BERRY: We would not have said that. That was talking the economy down, I think. We would not have gone out and said, "The arse has fallen out of the economy". What do you think business would do if their leader went out and said those sorts of things? They would put their money away somewhere for a while. That is what they did, and no wonder. You were the one who started the riot. We would not have started a massive industrial dispute which cost the Territory $4m or $5m. We would not have

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