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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2269 ..

MR SMYTH

: I will take my second 10 minutes to speak on the next line. The other area that is weak in this budget is the government's commitment to business. We are yet to see the government's economic white paper. It is a moveable feast; it seems to be sliding out from the end of this year to early next year. It will be interesting to see whether it is delivered early next year and what form it will take.

I heard Mr Quinlan say that it will be a useful reference document. I hope that it will not be just a useful reference document. I hope that it will be an economic blueprint and a plan that will actually outline where the Labor government intends to take the community through its business sector because, unless all the sectors work together and are in unison, every sector will suffer.

Without the business sector creating employment, creating wealth and paying taxes that feed back in the general economy, there are things that governments cannot do. I think that the lack of attention to business and, indeed, the number of charges that this government seeks to place on business and the moves not to raise the payroll tax threshold are disappointing.

I know that the business community is disappointed overall with any drive or push from the business minister. The tourism sector is accepting of the $40 million in the following year, but not his response to questions about where, when and how of: "Dunno, dunno, dunno."We have promises for outyears that are vague enough to be avoided. What we do not have is the commitment or the drive from this government to ensure that they actually do happen.

Another area that truly concerns me is the apparent downgrading of initiatives such as Canberra Connect and making Canberra the city that uses e-government to its best effect. There is comment in the Estimates Committee's report about projects that are undertaken by government and making sure that the timelines that are put in are realistic. As far as I know, the recommendation on that is the only one that the government has accepted so far.

We do need to make sure that we get our communications and our software accurate, but my concern is about the whole attitude towards, for instance, Canberra Connect. On 18 January, Canberra Connect had something like 150,000 hits and proved its value simply on that day. It was a way for Canberrans to keep as up-to-date as one can in an emergency which was changing all the time. I suspect that it needs to be driven from the Chief Minister's office. It needs to be driven as something we accept.

That is not to say that we reject the old way of accepting payments at shopfronts. There will always be a role for shopfronts. But if we are to live up to the potential of this city and back up our business community in selling that potential round the world and round the country-we have proven that we can through Tower, Management Solutions and Wizard, to name just a few companies-we need government to say, "We will prove it, we will be a reference site and we will be the endorsing body that says that it backs up its firms."You do not see that sort of commitment in this budget.

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