Page 1770 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mrs Jones, resume your seat. You can bring this matter up after Mr Gentleman has finished his speech. Mr Gentleman, resume your speech. Start the clock.
MR GENTLEMAN: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker, I will continue. It is possible that tens of thousands of Canberra home owners will be worse off under an Abbott government. It was not only the working families, of course, who had a member in the public service that suffered. Once again I refer to my federal parliamentary colleagues’ press release in that the number of businesses in the ACT declined by 105 in 1996-97. That was a similar drop to that seen during the global financial crisis. An Abbott government will hurt businesses.
The personal finance for debt consolidation as a share of total personal finance reached a record 8.7 per cent. This shows that Canberrans prioritised paying off debts during that period, likely due to job insecurity. If a similar trend occurred with 20,000 job cuts it would be devastating for our retail sector.
It is possible that on 14 September the ACT and 17,000 constituents of mine who currently work for the federal government will have their future prosperity jeopardised through the vicious slash and burn tactics we have seen from Liberal state and territory governments across the country and also from previous federal coalition governments and the publicly stated policies of the federal Liberals. As a member for Brindabella, I intend to fight day in and day out to ensure support for those that may be affected by these coalition government cuts.
In Tuggeranong, according to the census data 30 per cent of working people in Brindabella are in the federal public service. Any cut to the federal public service that comes with an Abbott Liberal government—whether it is 12,000, 20,000 or even more—will devastate Tuggeranong. Some 30 per cent of hardworking constituents of mine who bring home a wage will have their jobs placed in jeopardy. They will no longer be able to plan their finances over the long term because no public service job will be safe.
Census data shows that over 5,000 public servants are employed in Tuggeranong alone, and 16 per cent of workers in Tuggeranong will have their jobs at risk. These people are in Tuggeranong daily supporting small businesses around the area participating in the community. These people deserve a commitment to Canberra from someone who is hoping to become the federal leader come 14 September with the help of a Senate candidate who was introduced last night at Tuggeranong Community Council and who happens to be currently sitting in this chamber, even if it is his departure lounge.
The Brindabella community simply cannot take these severe cuts to the federal public service. Apart from the pure fact of a possible 20,000 jobs being cut, the services delivered by the public service every day to the Tuggeranong community are something people simply just cannot live without, with Centrelink and Medicare offices being just two parts of the services that will have to be cut due to this possible process. With the commitment to Canberra made by the Abbott Liberals, these services are being put on the line.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video