Page 119 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 14 December 2016
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This motion goes to the heart of the Barr government’s strong fiscal strategy and responsible management of the territory’s finances, balancing sustainable rates and charges with high standards of service delivery. The ACT government has led the nation for years in delivering taxation reform and has now successfully taken this reform package to two elections. Through abolishing and phasing out unfair and inefficient taxes such as insurance tax and stamp duties, household bank balances are better off and the government balance sheets are unhindered.
I see a strong economy as being about more than numbers. It is about the services the government provides and the infrastructure it builds. The government is building a new public hospital to better care for people in our community, renewing our public housing stock across the city so that people have more comfortable places to live that are more accessible and safe, delivering new roads and new infrastructure from Gungahlin to Tuggeranong and investing in a world-class integrated transport system to keep our city moving. These are but a few projects. To list them all would take all the time we have here today. Strong economic management is at the heart of everything we do. This is not something that seems to be said about the federal government.
Last week our national economy recorded its first drop since 2011. It contracted by 0.5 of a per cent. The Liberal Party across the lake do not know how to run an economy. All they do is cut, cut, cut. Now they are cutting the economy for now and the next generation. The cuts to training today will make the next generation poorer for a lifetime. And this could hurt us. We need to be wary of the impact of this on our economy as we develop policies throughout this parliamentary term.
The Liberal Party opposite is very similar to its federal counterparts. It did not support any of the measures in the ACT budget. It did not support economic diversification. It did not even bother to form an election policy to deliver key skills to Canberrans through the CIT. We are better than that. The ACT government I am a part of will stand up for all Canberrans and make decisions that will further strengthen this economy.
We will build light rail, creating thousands of long-term jobs for local businesses over the next few years. We will bring the world to Canberra and act on the benefits of international flights. And we will continue to make progress with our taxation reform schedule to make taxes fairer, simpler and more efficient for all Canberrans. We will always support projects here in the ACT that build a better Canberra and support local jobs. That is strong economic management. I commend the motion to the Assembly.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (11.01): The opposition welcomes another opportunity to discuss financial matters here in the Assembly, this time on the economy as distinct from the budget. Management of the economy, despite what the Chief Minister might claim, which I do acknowledge includes rare and considered interventions, is a key responsibility of government. And there is much to celebrate in our economy. We have entrepreneurial people; we have an enterprising business sector; and we have many other advantages that put us in good stead.
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