Page 4712 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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The first year of the Third Stanhope Government—
Ministerial statement, 10 November 2009.
A year of activity, achievement and purpose.
The document I have tabled today is an impartial, though partial, list of one year. I commend it to the Assembly. I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the ministerial statement.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (11.49): I would like to thank the Chief Minister for his reflections on the first year of the Seventh Assembly and acknowledge many of the achievements of this government over the past year. In many ways, the Greens share the pride felt by the Chief Minister in the work that has been done both in this place and by the ACT public service and the ACT community, because this year, as we are all aware, has been an important one for the Greens and for our involvement in the governance of this territory.
As members of this place are aware, four Greens were returned to the Assembly at the last election, leading to the formation of a minority ALP government and the creation of the ALP-Greens parliamentary agreement. The Greens are proud not only of the election outcome but also that we were able to put together, in conjunction with the government, the beginnings of a policy direction for the new term. We are pleased that a number of the policy items in that agreement have been fulfilled, while also acknowledging that there is much more work to be done, both on the agreement items and on other areas of policy development.
The Greens believe that, in our first year, we have been both responsible and practical in our engagement with the Assembly, that we have put forward a constructive agenda, engaged actively on policy development, and applied a commonsense filter to all the work that we do. At the same time, we believe it is because we Greens are here in the Assembly in such numbers that we have seen a government that is sharply refocused on issues of sustainability and environment.
Perhaps more importantly, we believe it has not only delivered stable minority government for the people of the ACT but better government. And this is a point of great pride for a political party that believes in having more voices at the table of governance, that communities are best represented in democracies with systems of government such as our own that encourage a wider spectrum of voices.
We have a clear three-party legislature in the ACT today, and I and my colleagues believe that it is broadly delivering better governance with better outcomes for our community. We continue to engage actively in a detailed policy debate and put forward initiatives that we think the government and its agencies should consider. In many cases, we have been heartened by the way the government has acknowledged that there is a new policy agenda to be addressed and that there is a strong new force of Green politics in the Assembly.
Good policy development requires a willingness to work constructively with other parties. While providing briefings and information is all useful, it has been
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