Page 4906 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 November 2017
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and medium clubs, gaming machine numbers across the sector will go down in this term of government.
We have also already this year increased the problem gambling assistance fund, we have imposed EFTPOS withdrawal limits and we have committed to reviewing the community contributions scheme. We are asking the clubs to contribute, as our partners, to the harm reduction agenda. And we are engaged with all clubs and all club representative groups in this important work.
The claim that there is a credibility issue simply does not stack up against the reality of what government is doing. But, again, evidence does not seem to be the concern of the Canberra Liberals. As serious as this motion is, or at least as it should be, the reality is that we are seeing a desperate opposition that has simply used this motion to cloud, to obscure and to avoid the truth.
The truth is that this government, under the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, is and has been working for the benefit of a strong, vibrant, healthy and just Canberra. And the opposition is simply working hard to reduce itself to a shadow. I oppose the motion.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Disability, Children and Youth, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (12.06): I, of course, rise to speak against the motion that is currently before the Assembly. As my colleagues have pointed out, few motions in this place have greater significance than a motion of no confidence. But the motion before us today does not reflect this fact. In fact, this motion reflects more on the integrity of those opposite than on this government or this Chief Minister.
As Canberrans have come to expect from those opposite, this motion is driven purely by petty politics. It is moved by a leader of the opposition who has sunk to the level of innuendo, conspiracy and mudslinging. As we have seen over the past week, he has not been able to make a single specific allegation that is not rehashed overreach, as my colleagues have pointed out, particularly the Chief Minister who has rebutted each claim in detail.
Instead, the Leader of the Opposition has been, and still is, relying on insinuation and smear in what appears to be a temper tantrum after the Chief Minister stood up to him in question time last week or, as the Deputy Chief Minister pointed out, after yet another good news day for Canberra under this Chief Minister; more good news that the opposition just could not bear to hear.
I am not without sympathy for those opposite. I understand the constraints and frustrations of opposition. Nevertheless, I entered this place a year ago hoping for a more cooperative, constructive approach from all members of the Assembly. I figured that in a small chamber such as this, in a city where the population understands better than any other the realities and complexities of government, and after an election where a positive vision so clearly won out over carping negativity, the new opposition leader might try a new approach, that he might try celebrating Canberra’s achievements alongside us and talking about how we can work together to make the
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