Page 3804 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 29 October 2014
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Unlike those opposite, we have taken on both parties. The Canberra Liberals have taken on both federal governments and said, “Stop using Canberra as a balancing item on your balance sheets.”
Part (2)(b) calls on the government to “capitalise on the full potential of our city, and take direction action to diversify the ACT economy”. This government can do that. This government should do that. We should work on education further. We should work on the arts. We should work on culture. There are so many things that we do here well that we can do more of. We need to make real cuts to red tape, not the petty annual stuff that we have done recently. We call on the government to table some initiatives in the Assembly by the last sitting day in February—(Time expired.)
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Housing and Minister for Tourism and Events) (5.26): I am sure I am not the only one who enjoyed the delicious irony of Mr Smyth moving a motion calling on people to stop talking down the economy and then spending 15 minutes doing just that. I have an amendment to Mr Smyth’s motion. It highlights at least 26 fantastic things about the ACT economy, and I formally move that amendment now. I move:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes:
(a) that the OECD has this month named Canberra as the most liveable city in the world, with the ACT ranking 10 out of 10 for safety, civic engagement and income, 9.9 out of 10 for health, and 9.6 out of 10 for jobs;
(b) that a Property Council survey earlier this year rated Canberra as Australia’s most liveable city, according to residents’ views of their own city;
(c) the strong support of small and medium enterprises in the Territory for the ACT Government, with a recent Sensis survey showing that support for the policies of the ACT Government was the highest of any state or territory government;
(d) that the ACT has Australia’s second lowest unemployment rate and second highest participation rate;
(e) that, in 2014-2015, the Government will spend $4.9 billion in delivering services to Canberra, and make an investment in capital infrastructure of $735 million in 2014-2015 and $2.5 billion over the next four years;
(f) the strong growth in exports from the ACT in recent years, with exports now worth almost $1.3 billion a year, up from $774 million in 2000-2001, and the ACT’s share of national exports having increased from 1.6 per cent in 2009 to 2.5 per cent in 2013;
(g) that there are now about 25 000 businesses operating in the ACT, a doubling since 1995, when there were about 12 000 businesses operating;
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