Page 1357 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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We have seen downright criminality from ministers, such as Milton Orkopoulos. That is not a personal issue; that is a criminal issue. Milton Orkopoulos, a New South Wales Labor minister, has been convicted of serious child sex offences. These are not personal issues and they cannot be written off as such. These go to the character of that government, and the reason it is important for us is that it also goes to the stability of that government.
It is very difficult to build lasting cross-border relationships and develop partnerships, whether in transport, health or any other aspect of regional development that is relevant to the people of the ACT when you have got a corrupt and inept government, which is what we have had for the last many years in New South Wales. To defend that corrupt government, as the Chief Minister does, just shows that the Labor Party will defend anything. They will always defend their own regardless—regardless of criminality and regardless of corruption. We can go through a pretty long list—whether it is Ian Macdonald with his travel rorts, Paul McLeay, Iguana-gate, the undie-dancing Matt Brown, Angela D’Amore, Karen Paluzzano, Milton Orkopoulos or the Wollongong City Council. They are just some examples of New South Wales Labor.
We know that the ACT Labor Party is not actually in control of its own destiny anymore. It is being controlled by the national executive now, which of course is dominated by New South Wales. It is dominated by New South Wales Labor. So the ties are indeed very close—hence, I think, the sensitivity from Mr Stanhope, who continues to hope for a miracle, it would seem. No doubt he will be hoping in four years time that there is a return to the kind of corruption, criminality and ineptitude that has characterised New South Wales Labor over these past few years.
Madam Assistant Speaker, I commend the efforts of our colleagues in New South Wales to build strong cross-border relations. I think that if we embrace that willingness and that openness, if we take the opportunity that is presented by the fact that we now have strong representatives in government in New South Wales here in our region, with an interest in our region and with the desire to work with the ACT on improving outcomes for people in the reason, there will be positives for the people of the ACT. There will be positives in health. A better working relationship with the New South Wales government will be a positive for us in health. It will be a positive for us when it comes to regional infrastructure. It will be a positive for us when it comes to public transport. There are a whole range of areas where a positive working relationship across the border is a good thing for the people of the ACT. That is why it is important. We are not an island.
As we contemplate some of the issues—issues that have not been mentioned, such as water and housing affordability—we are, unfortunately, seeing that the region outside of the borders of the ACT is becoming the first choice for many of our young families because that is the only place where they can afford to buy a home. Why is that, Madam Assistant Speaker, and is that something we are comfortable with?
We in the opposition, in the Canberra Liberals, are not comfortable with that. We believe that we should be trying our best to keep people living here in the ACT, not
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