Page 851 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
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I grew up in a Canberra where, yes, there were new development fronts. I grew up in Weston Creek when Tuggeranong was getting everything and everyone in Weston Creek was going, “Well, what is it with Tuggeranong? They’re getting all the infrastructure.” Do you know what it was? At the time there was an acceptance that that was a new part of Canberra and that was where the new infrastructure had to grow. Now we have a lot of effort going into Gungahlin, and soon we will have a lot of effort going into Molonglo with new infrastructure. That is the way a city grows.
But we take lessons from the election; we do not ignore it. But you know what? The difference between me and Mr Seselja is that I will hang around and implement it. I have not assessed my options to see what the best job is. I will do my job here for the next four years and we will see Mr Seselja in the Senate, if he is lucky enough to get that privilege to represent the people of Canberra.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Doszpot): Chief Minister, hold on for one second. Members, those opposite gave Mr Hanson a fair run, so I ask you to respect who is speaking at the moment. Chief Minister, have you concluded?
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you.
MR SESELJA (Brindabella) (3.51): I thank members for their contributions and refer particularly to the hysterical contributions from across the chamber. It is unfortunate that the Chief Minister, in professing her desire to serve the community and the people of Tuggeranong, did not address the issues at all. She did not touch on the issues and what the government are going to do. If any lessons were learned from the election by this Chief Minister, that was not evident in any of her contribution to this debate.
Mr Hanson has summed it up very well when, according to the Labor Party, seeking to serve the community in the Australian parliament, in the Senate, is somehow worse than someone leaving the Assembly and picking up government jobs. So that is the Labor Party standard. It is apparently good to walk away from your electorate and no longer serve them as an elected representative if you are a Labor Party member and can pick up some good government jobs, as we have seen with Mr Quinlan and Mr Stanhope. I am putting myself up for election by the very same community. Let us be clear: if I am elected to the Senate, if I am privileged enough to be elected to the Senate, it will be because people in Tuggeranong, people in Belconnen, people in Gungahlin and people across the territory have given me their support. I am very hopeful that I can get that support. But I take nothing for granted, Mr Assistant Speaker. I will be seeking their support as I have in the past.
The issue, though, the government continue to ignore is that people in the south of Tuggeranong have not been well served by their government. They expressed that very clearly at this election, and the Labor Party seems obsessed with the personalities of this and seems to be ignoring that people were voting for the policies. They were
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