Page 598 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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He goes on to say:
Some call us the lucky country, but I believe you make your own luck.
I believe that too. I do believe it: you make your own luck. Kevin Rudd is spot-on. I hope he has not flip-flopped on this as well. I hope he is not suddenly saying that you do not create your own luck. Kevin Rudd said, “But I believe you make your own luck.” That is what he said.
I wonder whether the Treasurer and Chief Minister believe in making your own luck. If you look at the circumstances of the next budget that we are going to be facing here in the territory and the ability for the Labor Party to deliver on capital works programs, you have to ask, “Did they create their own luck?” Of course, they did. Why? Because they had $1.7 billion of extra money—this is, money in addition to the capital works budgeted money—that they did not invest in public works. There was all this money that they have squandered.
What sort of ability do they have for spending money in the future in the capital works area? Very little. If you go back to the capital works estimates and outcomes for 2001-07, firstly, there was a 33 per cent underspend of share promised; then a 37 per cent underspend; then a 36 per cent underspend; then a 48 per cent underspend; then a 48 per cent underspend; and then a 38 per cent underspend. When we are looking at the next capital works estimates and outcome, how about we take out 48 per cent? Then we will get the real spend. Then we will get what the Labor Party actually intend to invest into the community.
That is not to say they will invest it wisely, but it is one of the inputs that they will say they measure things on. After all, they measure only on inputs. The Labor Party measures only on inputs. Never do they measure on output. Never do they actually say, “These are the results we achieved.” In actual fact, there are so few to actually point to that inputs are all they have got.
We have debacles like the good old GDE, a road that I avoid like the plague. You can go down Northbourne Avenue, because that is a better alternative from my Gungahlin suburb. It is a single-lane parking lot. It was meant to cost $53 million. For five years I should have been driving down that road—for five years. Instead, even today I will not drive down it, because it is a single-lane parking lot. That road cost $120 million—$120 million.
It is no wonder that the ALP went backwards in Ginninderra and everywhere in Canberra when they cannot invest in their own neighbourhood. I very rarely saw Mr Stanhope on the campaign trail. Why would Mr Stanhope go and campaign? Why would he campaign? He was the bad-news boy. He was the bad-news boy that no other ALP candidate would want to be tagged with. In fact, he was so bad that they had to put pictures of Katy next to the Chief Minister to try and make him a bit more palatable to the electorate. I am afraid that they did not fool us.
Let us go back to Kevin Rudd and his great ministry. Let us look at Wayne Swan perhaps. Wayne Swan put a few crackers on LaborTV—
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