Page 693 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 22 February 2012
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anything that affects confidence, such as careless words and unnecessary attacks on the economy, certainly has a real impact on the lives of Canberrans.
I think the important message in Ms Porter’s motion tonight is that for the sake of scoring cheap political points, you may in fact end up doing yourself and the territory economy a great disservice. And it is a particularly cavalier way to treat the territory’s economic future.
In the context of the outlook for the future and what I think will be an important debate on industry policy, I think I have indicated already some of the parameters that I have set around policy development in this area from the government’s perspective and if it is not already clear to everyone, I do not adhere to some old-style 1950s or 1960s industry policy of a heavy-handed, interventionist approach to the economy.
I think the greatest thing that we can do is maintain a competitive, robust and economically efficient revenue base that achieves a dual goal, as Ms Hunter has indicated, of providing sufficient resources to provide the services that the community needs and at the same time providing a competitive edge for this economy over particularly the New South Wales economy that surrounds us, more particularly in the context of other jurisdictions seeking investment. So in my view, rather than picking winners we should be focusing on our broad policy settings.
MS PORTER (Ginninderra) (8.33), in reply: I thank members for their contributions to the debate. However, Mr Smyth’s contribution served only to strongly reinforce the reason for clause (2)(a) of my motion, as what he did for most of his allocated time was to talk down our economy. He talked down this government’s record of achievement and he talked down this government’s fiscal management. This is a very foolhardy approach.
Secondly, on the need for all ACT political parties to have coherent and detailed policies, Mr Smyth spent most of his time being disparaging about the government’s record and dismissive of the fine record of policy reform of the Gallagher government. We heard nothing of their detailed policies, just assertions about what they had done. I have already mentioned the parlous state of many parts of our ACT service delivery that this government inherited when it took power, the legacy of the Liberals.
I thank Ms Hunter for her positive contribution and her thoughtful commentary on the ACT economy. I do thank her for her commitment on behalf of her party to continue to work with this government in a positive way to support economic growth.
As the minister emphasised, we have a strong and successful economy, whilst still recognising the challenges of the world’s situation. However, as the minister said, jobs are a clear indication of our economic health, and certainly high employment can only serve to increase our economic health and increase the wellbeing of our community. I thank members for their contributions to this debate this evening.
Motion agreed to.
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