Page 2009 - Week 06 - Thursday, 8 June 2006
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commitment, a promise, by this government in its economic white paper. The life of a Jon Stanhope promise is about two years. The government promised not to close any schools. That promise lasted about 18 months. The tourist corporation and the Small Business Commission both lasted about two years. The promise not to cut school numbers has lasted for about 18 months. It will be interesting to see what else goes in the life of a four-year term of a majority government.
This bitter and arrogant and small-minded Chief Minister is punishing his former colleague Mr Quinlan. This is about getting rid of Ted Quinlan’s memory. Apparently the other day there was a chat with industry about what might be in the budget. A list of major events was put up on the board. We will still have Floriade; that is okay. But for the Brindabella Classic, the nation’s premier cycle event, there is no money at all from this government this year. It is just not there. It is gone. It did not even last a year. It commenced in December last year; by June it is gone. Fantastic!
Perhaps there is some bitterness about Mr Quinlan in this budget. Mr Quinlan’s colleagues, in particular the Chief Minister, who seems to know everything, did not listen to him, and he has been proved right. This is a silly budget. The savings in the budget are cheap and short-sighted.
I suspect that, without an independent body, the tourism industry will not have the ability to react. Let us face it, over the last five or six years the tourism industry across the world, not just in the ACT, has had to react to any number of problems: airline collapses; September 11; SARS and chicken flu. That is why an independent body works best. It is not bureaucratic; it is not tied up; it is not risk adverse. It is there; it is reactive; it is in the marketplace, where it should be.
What do the taxpayers say? Eighty-five per cent of taxpayers believe that the government should fund promotion, marketing and tourism. Clearly, they were happy with the model when they were asked. The government’s proposals are silly and short-sighted, and they should be stopped.
Another area to be affected is Healthpact. We are about to destroy Healthpact. That might be Carnell envy, because Healthpact was established in 1995 under the Carnell government, and this government has tried very successfully to wipe out the memory of the former Chief Minister. Just weeks ago the government launched Healthy Canberra: community stories celebrating 10 years of health promotion. There is a smiley picture of Mr Corbell. He is saying what a wonderful job Healthpact has done over 10 years, what a wonderful impact it has had on people’s health and how the government looks forward to working with it in the future.
Minister Gallagher launched the book, with the current chair and former chairs of Healthpact attending. These people are all volunteers who care about the health of the people of the ACT. They donate their time to Healthpact. They do not do this for fun. They do it because they care. But this government has now said, “Too bad, too sad. We will do it in the department. We can save a few bucks.” It is an incredibly short-sighted approach at a time when one-third of all presentations to hospitals are chronic illness sufferers, people who smoke, have heart conditions, diabetes or asthma or who are obese. The department will run the agenda at the behest of the minister, rather than being in touch with the community. Independence will go; the ability to react will go.
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