Page 1670 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 3 June 2014
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turmoil and it was certainly contrary to the position we have taken on health, which is to grow, expand, invest and create a city where not only do you get access to high-quality health care but you can also have major projects like the University of Canberra subacute hospital coming online. (Time expired.)
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, can you advise what representations you made to the former Labor government when they cut 14,500 jobs from the Australian public service?
MS GALLAGHER: I see; avoiding the issue which is actually the reduction in health expenditure in this budget. I made repeated representations, I had meetings with prime ministers and I have to say, particularly under Prime Minister Gillard, that the city was treated with more respect than I think it has been under this government. We got money for Constitution Avenue, we got money for the Arboretum and we got money for the Majura parkway. Remember that—the largest road infrastructure project? That is what we were successful at. I do not really care which government sacks public servants—
Mr Hanson: Yes, you do.
MS GALLAGHER: No, I do not, Mr Hanson. I do not think it makes the slightest bit of difference to the people that we represent who actually reduced their jobs. The issue is the jobs are gone and the acceleration of the job losses is going to continue. We have had two years of absorbing about 2,000 job losses in this city and we have now got another four years of losing 2,000 next year and then the year after—
Mr Hanson interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: Who knows what after that, Mr Hanson? You sit here and apportion blame to me. It is really like my six-year-old and eight-year-old when they are having a fight over an issue at home: “You did this to me,” “No, you did it to me.” At the end of the day, it does not matter who did what to anybody. The fact is the jobs are going and this government has to ensure that we are providing support and confidence in the local economy, because no-one else is going to. That is clear. The message from the Prime Minister yesterday was “you lot are on your own”. That is the issue that this government is having to deal with, not who did what to whom. The fact is we have 16½ thousand jobs going: 6½ thousand going from this city in the next four years; 2,000 next year. We are also losing jobs to other parts of Australia. This Assembly should stand together and fight those cuts in all the ways we can.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, can you point to where the $80 billion in health and education funding appeared in any federal or state budget or indicate what plans existed anywhere to fund that liability?
MS GALLAGHER: The $80 billion falls outside the forward estimates period, but that is not the issue that I am in here talking about.
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