Page 5075 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
who do not develop within their allowed period, as conditions do change over time and there could well be reasons that development conditions might need to be adjusted. This seriously was an opportunity that appears to have been lost by the government very recently. The QIC’s DA has only come in recently. I would urge the government to look very seriously at the retail issues in Civic before they approve it.
Workers, shoppers and businesses in Civic would all benefit from improved integrated transport options, waste services and other public amenities. A broad range of issues relating to these areas has been raised through responses to surveys and by constituents. My motion listed public toilets, public seats and tables, as well as the rollout of commercial waste coordination, including for organics, and committing to the Civic cycle loop. There is a lot more detail which I will not really have time for right now.
One of the main things I want to say is that what this motion is really about is a fair go for business in Civic—a fair go for big businesses and a fair go for small businesses. Big business is probably managing to have a fair go. We have to put a bit more emphasis into looking after small business and diversity. The ACCC has looked at this and different issues. There are well-known issues with having one entity having a significant market power. If you think of yourself as a small business trying to negotiate a lease with a large landlord who is basically the only shop in town, you can understand the significant market power issues and the significant issues here.
My motion also notes that the CBD board—and we do support the role of CBD Ltd in coordinating Civic’s landlords and improving the amenity of Civic—does not formally have tenant representatives as part of its board. We note that, as the tenants are the people most in touch with Civic, that could be a good way forward. In conclusion, I commend my motion to the Assembly.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (5.43): It seems that it is another day and another Greens’ motion where they are going to suddenly call on the government to do all sorts of things that the Greens have not bothered to get done for the last three years. Every time we read one of these motions that are coming out more and more as we approach the election, there is this increasing sense of desperation from the Greens. They are trying to show the community that they have actually done something but every time we read through these motions—we have the Greens calling on the government to do this and calling on the government to do that—they read as a litany of Greens failure. They read as a litany of Greens-Labor failure.
The Greens have been part of this coalition for three years. They have not managed to get any of these things done. If they were so committed to these changes you would think that they would have been able to negotiate something by now, that they would have been able to negotiate it. You would think that when they agreed to support each budget they would have got some of these things done. But they have not. They have not because they have not been committed to it. I think this is going to be what we see every sitting from the Greens. This has to be done and it has to be done now.
I think we will increasingly see that these motions will not get up, and they will not get up because the Greens have not done the work. They are not really committed to it.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video