Page 1662 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
economy and make it easier for Canberrans to travel. As our city grows, more and more people will make use of these services.
Government services must be available for people when they need them most. As Canberra grows, more people will need access to these front-line services. That is why our government is continuing with the biggest renewal of our public housing in Canberra’s history. This means replacing 1,288 public housing units across the territory with modern homes for some of Canberra’s most vulnerable people.
The government is also funding outreach services for at-risk kids and young people to ensure proper support so nobody falls through the cracks. Our government believes in supporting those in our community who need a helping hand. Renewing our public housing was an overdue project as many of the current ones are not fit for purpose. Investing in good public housing is vital for any government that cares about vulnerable people in their community.
I call on the government to continue to invest, expanding a wide variety of essential services right across Canberra—in particular, community, social, education, transport, health, and emergency services. Canberra is such a livable city partly due to the high quality services that are provided by the government. I call on government to further invest in these services to ensure they are more accessible and sustainable, particularly as our city’s population continues to grow.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (11.59): Regrettably, I cannot start my speech without addressing some of the comments of the opposition leader, but I will try to keep it brief. The opposition complains about these motions, but I helpfully suggest that they should look at some of their own topics for private members’ motions and MPIs—that is, when they can be even bothered to submit an MPI. Indeed the opposition leader might want to review the topics put forward by his own deputy before he considers himself to be in a position to act as a martyr on motion topics and content.
The theme we constantly hear from the opposition leader is that he can only criticise because, just like the rest of his shadow ministers, he has nothing substantive to offer: no policy, no ideas, no creativity. And they are behaving like it is something to be proud of. They have no plan for our city; just criticism.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS CHEYNE: No wonder they hate these motions so much. It is because they expose that the opposition can barely call itself an alternative government.
Opposition members interjecting—
MS CHEYNE: It speaks for itself, doesn’t it? They just keep interjecting. You are just proving my point.
Members interjecting—
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video