Page 162 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The reality is that public service job cuts, no matter where they come from, are going to have a detrimental impact on the ACT economy. I think for the sake of the record it is worth noting that the Greens went to the federal election opposing job cuts across the board in the public service. We actually hold the view that we—
Mr Hanson: Abbott-proof the Senate.
MR RATTENBURY: That is a different matter. Abbott-proofing the Senate is a whole different matter, because there is a whole—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Rattenbury, please do not engage in conversation.
MR RATTENBURY: Yes, but let me touch on this point, because Abbott-proofing the Senate is about a whole range of frankly abhorrent policy initiatives that the Abbott government intends to bring forward, including removing the price on carbon, which is actually a policy that will drive new clean, green jobs in this economy. So it is actually a much broader agenda.
Before the interjection I was talking about public sector job cuts and acknowledging the fact that they will have a detrimental impact on the ACT economy no matter who does them. The Greens hold the view that this sort of ideological beating up on the public service, which is certainly the approach the Abbott government has taken, is one that is thoughtless and short-sighted. I think there is a nasty political edge to it that suggests that public servants do not do enough work, that there are too many of them and that there is plenty of room to cut them. I do not believe that is true.
The jobs that will be cut are real jobs. They are held by real people with real families. Many of them will come from Canberra-based agencies. Undoubtedly, this will hurt Canberra, no matter which side of politics cuts the jobs. What we have seen already is that the new federal government has said they will cut up to 600 jobs from the CSIRO alone. One of Canberra’s greatest industries is education. It is one of those industries that has helped in diversifying our economy.
We will often hear from Mr Smyth in particular that we have got to diversify the economy. I think that education is one of those key sectors in which we can diversify the economy. So to see the sorts of cuts that are taking place in organisations like the CSIRO or NICTA, which are actually about driving our education economy, is very disappointing when it comes to actually trying to have some diversification of the economy here in the territory.
On a more positive note, I would like to talk about the impacts that Canberra’s light rail project could have on the economy and on jobs in Canberra. For starters, the light rail project is partly a strategy to address the growing congestion on Northbourne Avenue. Reducing congestion, of course, plays an important part in improving our economy’s productivity and capacity. Letting Northbourne Avenue grow into gridlock is a sure-fire way to degrade Canberra’s economy.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video