Page 2898 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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Mr Speaker we have a massive budget problem in health now. She—
Kate Carnell—
is just throwing money at the health black hole. She cannot deal with any of the savings problems which need to be dealt with within the health system.
Sound familiar? So there is little to be gained really by the argument of, “It was your fault”. The Canberra community are sick to death of that, so we need to stop playing that game. We are not in here to actually play games; we are here to deliver good governance to the people of the ACT. It does not resonate with the people of Canberra when you, as a government, try and blame an opposition of six years ago. It is a pathetic, pathetic excuse, and you should stand condemned today in this place. Chief Minister, wherever you are, you stand condemned, too, because of your lack of leadership and oversight of ministers who are just simply allowing the bureaucracy to lead this territory. That is basically it—the bureaucracy rules the roost. You as ministers are simply there as puppets in front of a camera or on the end of a radio microphone.
Mr Speaker, I think that we have a government that is simply not competent; it is not competent to lead the people of Canberra for a next term in office. You can see that there are holes. They talk about us on this side of the house. Well, from where we are sitting, you do not look like you are working particularly well together as a team either. We need to make sure that we have a government that is held to account, that is doing the right thing for the people of Canberra. Yes, you can sit and laugh, but it will be a long time before you can stand up in this place and say that you are on top of your jobs and for the people of Canberra to believe you. I am waiting for that to happen.
MR MULCAHY (Molonglo) (11.12): Mr Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and I thank my colleague for moving what indeed is a matter of grave concern. It is very much an indictment of those opposite that time and time again in this place the Liberal Party is forced to move motions criticising or calling for improvements in the management of territory funds or the exercise of government. Indeed, frequently those opposite are criticised for their lack of transparency or failure to address genuine and broadly held concerns about their commitment to good governance. Yet we continue to see no effort made to improve practices and the people of Canberra continue to suffer.
The litany of failures is well known: a still secret functional review that led to the closure of many schools and other community facilities and a raft of tax increases; a health system that is not performing to an acceptable standard; a decline in the appearance of the city and a commitment to spending without holding a similar commitment to receiving value for money through good management practices, to name just a few.
I will not cover the same ground as my colleagues, but I do want to take this opportunity to expand on a few of the failures of those opposite. Certainly one of the
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