Page 1350 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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street does not notice a huge difference when they drive across the border near Hall or when they drive across the border down south of Tuggeranong. It does not mean a great deal to them. It is only an administrative hurdle and that is why we need to ensure that it is a seamless transition and that we are actually getting the economies of scale that we can if we choose to treat this area as an area of half a million people rather than 350,000 people on one border and 150,000 on the other side. It is absolutely vital we do get those economies of scale and we can only do that if we have cooperative dialogue.
One such issue that we need to have cooperative dialogue on is transport. I find it amazing that here we have a bus network in the ACT, ACTION, which is operating at a tremendous loss and delivering very poor service, while Deane’s over the border are desperate to assist us. Yet it seems the ACT government are unwilling to engage in genuine dialogue to see if something palatable can be worked out that suits all the stakeholders. They say they have got these forums. They say that they have them every quarter; they have a press conference. What actually changes? What is a tangible thing that has actually changed?
Mr Stanhope is going to get in here and talk about regional policy. He is going to talk about all these different things. But at the end of the day what is actually changing here in the territory? What genuine financial arrangements has this government come to with the New South Wales government over recent years to improve the level of service delivery for Canberrans but also for those across the border?
I said earlier about the scandals that have dogged New South Wales Labor in the recent term being perhaps not bad enough. Perhaps we could go to a “dear John” letter from 2008 by none other than Mr PJ Keating, the Hon Paul Keating. What did he say about the now Leader of the Opposition in New South Wales? It was a cracker; it was a cracker of a letter. I do not think I could possibly articulate this in the same sort of manner that no doubt Mr Keating would have done had he been in my shoes. But it is a cracking start:
I am writing on the occasion of your swearing in as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
But this is not a letter of congratulations.
You have replaced a man, who despite his idiosyncrasies, had much to offer the people of New South Wales and the Labor Party. And indeed, someone who in troubled times, had an economic position and a framework to work in. Like his colleague, the former Premier, Morris Iemma, he sought to deal with the great and unfinished problem of New South Wales electricity and the provision of capital for new base load power.
Your manipulation of the union base in New South Wales, with the connivance and support of the Party President, Bernie Riordan, succeeded in destroying the political life of both men, and with them, probably the Labor Government of New South Wales itself.
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