Page 2633 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 August 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
I have previously shared stories from public servants and the Community Public Sector Union about the experiences they have faced with cuts and outsourcing from the Liberals. Earlier this year, just two days before the May federal election, we heard the coalition government announce their plans to cut $1.5 billion from the public service. These plans will see thousands of jobs lost to private contractors and consultants. This is another sign that the Liberals and Nationals are obsessed with privatising public services instead of investing in them and the people who work to deliver them.
In contrast to this dangerous obsession with privatisation and sell-offs, this Labor government values the essential services that support the life of our city. In the ACT our essential services are owned by the public for the public. Our Chief Minister has made the guarantee to Canberrans that a Labor government will always keep these services in public hands.
We will continue to invest in our buses and light rail. We will continue to invest in the city services that keep our city clean. We will continue to invest in and protect CIT now and into the future. Ultimately we are the only party of government in this city that values the importance of our essential services. I stand by ACT Labor’s guarantee, and people in my electorate can be assured that I will always fight any plans the opposition or anyone else may put forward to sell off our services.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (3.39): The Canberra Liberals of course believe that it is absolutely vital that essential services are in public hands and are delivered well. I am not exactly sure of the genesis of this particular attack on the Canberra Liberals. I know there are some discussions taking place in the Labor Party, but what relevance or application that has for the Canberra Liberals is beyond me.
There is a bit of a hypocrisy with regard to what is being put forward today from the government that in the past year outsourced hundreds of operations to John James Hospital. This is the government that frequently outsources training to unions rather than CIT or in-house providers. This is a government that has used its own development agencies, particularly the former LDA and the SLA, to gouge Canberrans whilst it has been private operators, especially in Googong and the Village Building Company, that have provided much cheaper products than ACT government entities.
Of course it is the same government led by Andrew Barr who said that privatising or licensing ACTION was up for consideration. You can see that clearly in the transcript of a hearing in December 2014. Mr Rattenbury was the transport minister at the time and I put it to him that the Chief Minister, Andrew Barr had said this about the future of ACTION:
We are contemplating significant change in relation to ACTION buses as part of our overhaul of public transport.
When I asked the Chief Minister whether he meant licensing or privatising he responded:
That is under some consideration, yes.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video