Page 589 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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implementation of this very important stimulus package. That is the challenge that we set for you today. That is the essence of my amendment, and I hope the Assembly feels able to support it. I move:
Omit all words after “notes”, substitute:
(a) the significant spending on capital works projects as part of the Rudd Government’s proposed $42 billion package of stimulus for the Australian economy; and
(b) the critical issue of undertaking these capital works projects within tight timeframes; and
(2) notes that the ACT Government will provide a report to the Legislative Assembly on the implementation plans for the Nation Building and Jobs Package once the bill has been passed by the Federal Senate.”.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (10:28): We will not be supporting Mr Seselja’s motion this morning. We will be supporting the amendment that has just been put forward by Ms Gallagher. I am unclear as to what the Liberal Party are trying to achieve with the motion they put forward this morning, as I feel we are going over old ground in relation to some of the capital works projects undertaken in recent times. I feel it is better to move forward at this stage and see how best to capitalise on this plan of the commonwealth to revive the economy.
Having said that, I acknowledge that it is vitally important that we heed the lessons learnt from some of the recent capital works and ensure we work to maximise the value of the nation building and jobs plan. At this stage we are still to learn of the detail in the plan. Indeed, it is becoming more apparent that changes will be required if the plan is to pass through the Senate. The injection of this level of funding for capital and other works, matched by a suitable stimulus plan from the ACT government, represents a great opportunity for the ACT economy to weather the storm that the recession threatens to bring and set the right foundation for the future.
Yesterday, in response to Ms Burch’s matter of public importance on the nation building and jobs plan, I raised our concern about the need to ensure that the ACT has the capacity and resources to deliver the programs, including capital works, within the tight time frame set down by the commonwealth government. We note that the Chief Minister has taken Ms Sandra Lambert offline to run the implementation of the plan and we ask that she be resourced to ensure it is possible to meet the deadlines.
While we still await details of the plan, too often funding of this nature, particularly capital works, is totally devoted to the costs associated with construction, so the planning and delivery of the outcome is left to overworked officials who have little choice but to organise the work under enormous pressure. We know that ACT government officials already have their existing workload demands, with the work associated with the ACT government’s third appropriation bill or stimulus package coming shortly. Now they have very tight deadlines imposed on them if they are to deliver key elements of the nation building and jobs plan.
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