Page 634 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 February 2013
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on time. It seems the old adage “build it and they will come” held true when, in the lead-up to the 2008 election, there was an official opening of an empty Alexander Maconochie Centre which was not ready to accept prisoners. Following that debacle we saw the opening of Bimberi—again, an empty building not ready to accept young offenders. It was another photo opportunity and another smokescreen to hide their inability to complete projects on time and on budget.
It would be very remiss of me not to mention the government’s aspirational targets. When he was a minister my colleague Brendan Smyth indicated that there was a target for waste reduction in the ACT—no waste by 2012. ACT Labor soon dropped this largely achievable goal as a mere aspirational target. In 1997 it was the then ACT Liberal government that was the first in the country to adopt a greenhouse gas emissions target—the first of any jurisdiction in the country. These targets were promptly dropped by ACT Labor and what we have now, after 12 years of both Labor and Green governments, is an increase in emissions.
The ACT Labor-Greens coalition have made some big commitments in this time. They have promised light rail, a hospital on the north side and $24 million to improve ACTION, amongst other things. Again, we have what could become another aspirational target of 90 per cent of Canberra’s electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020—big commitments, big expectations and another big expected failure.
How can the Canberra community trust this government to deliver on time? What is different this time and why? The track record of both Labor and the Greens in this place is poor, and at some points the promises made to the people of Canberra have been dishonest and disingenuous. The fact is that we have been let down for the past 12 years. The people of Canberra have been let down in all aspects of their lives because of ACT Labor’s ineptitude and inability to deliver.
I have described the utter incompetence which this government has demonstrated over the past decade or more in honouring its commitments to the ACT community, but there continues to be an alternative—a clear and solid alternative that the majority of Canberrans voted for last October. This is the vision outlined by the Canberra Liberals, a vision that was to be the best local government.
There are numerous policies that formed part of this vision, from basic local services such as a green bin for every home to upgrades to local sporting fields and improvements to streetscapes, footpaths and cycle ways. We outlined a plan for a true choice for first homebuyers, not restricting them to buy in Canberra’s outer suburbs. We had a plan to remove burdensome taxes that are choking redevelopment and investment in our city. The Canberra Liberals promised to get ahead of the curve when it came to infrastructure projects by establishing infrastructure Canberra. This would have prevented the catch-up nature of development that Canberrans have become all too familiar with.
When it comes to education, the Canberra Liberals would have opened schools—not closed them. The construction of an autism-specific school would have seen a gap in current services being closed and provided better outcomes for families raising children with autism. We would have also provided better choices for families when it
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