Page 1422 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 14 May 2014
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That is why, in paragraph (3) of my motion, I call on the government to provide up to $10 million in the 2014-15 ACT budget to get the new convention centre project to shovel-ready stage so that they can then reapproach the commonwealth for financial support in the outyears. The commonwealth have put large amounts of money, billions of dollars, into the outyears so that they have an infrastructure program to help Australia smooth some of the bumps that are appearing on the international horizon. You only have to ask why did the––
Ms Gallagher: The bumps?
MR SMYTH: If you had turned up for breakfast this morning and listened to Robert Gottliebsen, you would have heard him talking about the impact of the downturn in China and what it is going to do to our economy—noting, of course, that the Chief Minister spoke about China being interested in investment-ready projects.
The interesting thing is: what did the Chief Minister do when she got the letter? The article appeared in the Canberra Times on Monday, 12 May, so you would expect that the releasing of that would coincide pretty quickly with the arrival of the letter. But I have managed to get a copy of the letter and apparently it was sent on 10 April. So the Chief Minister gets a letter from the federal government saying, “You’re not going to get the money to do the shovel-ready stuff.” We know the reason why—because they are not providing anybody with money to get projects to the shovel-ready stage; they are saying it is the responsibility of the proponents to make the case and then come to the government. But we sit on it for a month. It is dated 10 April. If it took a couple of days to get to the Chief Minister, she probably got it on 12 April. But there it is: on 12 May it suddenly appears in the Canberra Times.
The question is: what did the Chief Minister do in that intervening month? The release of this letter was timed for shallow political purpose, instead of going back to the government and saying, “What do we need to do?” The Prime Minister makes that offer. He said:
However, as the Australia Forum is a priority for the ACT Government, I have asked the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Hon. Jamie Briggs MP, to discuss the business case requirements in more detail with you and advise on any non-financial support that the Commonwealth could provide.
So make the case. You did not make the case. You were not ready. You were ill-prepared. You went to the house without the tools that you needed to get the outcome that the people of Canberra desired and deserved.
Mr Hanson: Haven’t done your homework.
MR SMYTH: As Mr Hanson so eloquently puts it, “You didn’t do the homework.” You went up there ill-prepared and you got the answer that your preparation probably deserved, which was, “Go away and please do the work and make the case so that we can do a reasonable assessment through the processes that we have in place, which includes a process to go through Infrastructure Australia.”
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