Page 2977 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 2013
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about it. There is a sheer lack of shamelessness about it. One week he stands up and says something that I thought, frankly, was so unparliamentary. But then he comes back the next week and does something completely different. The double standards of it and the duplicity of Mr Hanson in his own behaviour are quite extraordinary.
This week, presumably at the behest of his former leader and wannabe senator, Mr Seselja, he has decided that federal issues are in the purview of the Assembly. He has come here to muddy the waters on Liberal Party plans to get rid of thousands of federal public servants. This points to the diminished role Mr Hanson brings to the role of opposition leader. He clearly does not have his own ideas. He is a cipher, a zero. By colloquial definition of the Macquarie Dictionary he is a zed, and that is a lower case zed, as much as he is a lower case leader. Nonetheless, as I said, I do agree that Mr Hanson is entitled to bring this issue forward.
It is important for the ACT through this Assembly to represent a view on what federal parties are proposing to do to Australia and to Canberra. It is quite appropriate that we discuss this issue. It is also important that the Assembly reflects the views of Canberrans on other issues such as asylum seekers. We in the Assembly represent the residents of our national capital, a place where many people’s work relies on looking out and across the whole country, considering the impact of a range of issues on the whole of Australia. We need to recognise that Canberra is perhaps the least parochial city in Australia and that we have residents who are the most outward looking in the country.
We also need to recognise the importance of the federal public service in terms of Australia and in terms of the economy of the ACT. This is Greens policy as reflected by me as minister when I am working with my Labor colleagues to maintain the size of the ACT public service workforce. It is important to provide the services that we as a community expect the government to provide.
A strong public service also assists the broader ACT economy through improved consumer sentiment, a stronger retail and public services sector and more visitors to Canberra to conduct the business of government. But Mr Hanson also tries to argue that federal Labor and the federal Greens have some sort of plan to cut the public service. The trouble with this assertion is that it is simply not true. In fact, Christine Milne, the leader of the federal Greens, had this to say on 2 August, when giving her views on federal Labor plans. I quote Senator Milne:
We shouldn’t be slashing money from the aid budget or the public service in a rush back to surplus.
Kevin Rudd’s attack on the public service has been dressed up as an “efficiency dividend”. But what it really means is significant job losses and the axing of vital programs and services.
This is another example of Kevin Rudd adopting Tony Abbott’s attack on the public service rather than having courage to take on the big mining companies or the fossil fuel sector who can afford to contribute more.
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