Page 1791 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 2 May 2012
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The government has worked closely with leaders and key stakeholders of the Canberra business community in putting this strategy together. During the consultation process, which took place over a number of months, recommendations were made to government in multiple submissions and the government has listened. The strategy has been warmly welcomed by the Canberra business community. The CEO of the Canberra Business Council, Ms Chris Faulks, was reported in the Canberra Times early this week as saying that the ACT government’s latest business strategy shows leadership. Ms Faulks was also reported by the ABC as saying that the council is very supportive of the initiatives announced and, by the CityNews, that the overall thrust of this strategy is welcomed by the council.
The Canberra Business Council is not the only industry represented body that has supported the strategy. Dr Chris Peters, the Chief Executive of the ACT and Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the 2012 Canberra citizen of the year, told the ABC that the strategy will make a big difference for small and medium sized businesses in the ACT.
Canberra has a strong foundation upon which to build and this government has played an important and active role in establishing that foundation. The business development strategy creates an important pathway to building this work and the basis for collaborative effort with the ACT private sector. It is a strategy that responds to both issues and emerging opportunities. The message I hope it leaves with the private sector is one of partnership, of collaborative effort, and one of shared confidence in our future. It is about optimism and confidence—so at odds with the negatives and point scoring we hear daily from those opposite. As this motion indicates, it represents a fundamentally positive view of the ACT economy and business community—something I believe all in this Assembly should embrace.
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (11.47): This is a bet come true. When this announcement was made on Monday, I said to colleagues and staff, “Gee, I bet Mary Porter will move a motion on Wednesday saying how good the government is.”
But no motion in this place will make up for 11 years of neglect. No motion in this place will make up for 11 years of lost opportunities or delayed opportunities and no motion in this place or a strategy dropped six months before the election will change a great deal, because this is a government that has neglected business for the last 11 years.
Ms Porter quotes Ms Faulks but she forgot to read out the important quote from Ms Faulks. Canberra Business Council CEO Chris Faulks said she was “looking forward to seeing more detail”. It is like so much that this government does: a glossy document, good printing, a nice launch, but no detail. There is nothing particularly new in this document. It is a rebadge. It is a rename. It is a recycle of policies that have come before and, in many cases, were abandoned by this government when they came to office—because they have no real commitment to business in the ACT and they have no real commitment to diversifying the ACT economy. If they had, we would not have seen the decline in the numbers of people employed in the private sector that we have seen in the last decade.
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