Page 3425 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
We do not like it. I note this mob opposite were mute when Kevin Rudd was saying, “I’m going to take a meat axe to the public service.” I do not remember them saying much about that then. When Kevin Rudd stripped 14,500 jobs, do you remember them howling then? No, I do not. There is hypocrisy when you have a group of people who will monitor only one side of politics and what they are doing federally.
What I say is: a pox on both your houses. Leave the jobs here. I particularly say: do not take any jobs out of Canberra to put them elsewhere, but that is a criticism that can be levelled at federal Labor and federal Liberal. The difference is, I might add, that federal Liberal are doing it because they are cleaning up billions and billions of dollars of debt and financial mismanagement from Rudd and Gillard Labor that, if left untouched, would lead to debt of over $600 billion to this country. So do not blame the Abbott government for cleaning up Gillard’s and Rudd’s mess when they were stripping 14,500 jobs and try to use that as an excuse for the failings of the ACT Labor government. It is the reality that that will ebb and flow. The way we are going to maintain our economy, the way we promote growth in this town is by getting our own business sector up and running and working. On every measure there it is a fail.
Dr Bourke is suggesting that this is all wonderful, that the ACT government is doing such a great job, that any problems here in the ACT must be slated to the Abbott government and that this government’s plans for the future are wonderful. Let me just talk about one of them, because I am limited by time—that is, the $800 million for our children’s future that this mob opposite want to spend on a tram. What does this tram do? We know it does not take many people in it—less than one per cent of the population. We know it is not going to make much difference for the economic prosperity of this town. I will tell you what it does: it secures the ninth vote in the Assembly. That is the principal reason that this government is pursuing the tram.
Just look at the Canberra Times if you want to see what the 6,000 people surveyed think about that tram, whether they think that this is a government that is on the right track. Mr Rattenbury is happy. He will get up and say how wonderful the tram is. He is happy, but what about your constituents down in Tuggeranong, Minister Gentleman and Minister Burch? What about your constituents, Dr Bourke and Ms Berry? What do they think about this? I know what they think about it, because they say the same things to me on the street as they say to you.
There are many things this government is doing that are unfair and misdirected. If you go to those same suburbs and talk to people about their rates and ask them what they think about their rates, they will give you a very clear understanding of that. Rates that go up at 10 per cent per year, year on year on year when incomes are going up at two per cent and pensions are going up at two and three per cent mean that people eventually have less money. The cost of living in this town, as this government covers it in solar panels that increases the cost of electricity, is a real impact. If we want to stay—
Mr Gentleman: Four dollars in 2020.
MR HANSON: Mr Gentleman interjects with “four dollars”. Well, the cost of electricity off the grid is in the order of $40 a megawatt hour. Through the solar, it is in order of $180. Don’t talk to me about $4. When you look at the facts of what this
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video