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Gary's Blog
Autumn sittings 2008
Between Parliament’s apology to the Stolen
Generations, the introduction of legislation to wind back WorkChoices, big cuts
in Government spending and Cardboard Kevin’s unexpected appearance, the first
sittings of the new Parliament have certainly been interesting ones. Busy
too, as we in the Senate led our first Budget Estimates in Opposition, and our
lower House colleagues kept the Government on their toes in Question Times and
debates.
The Estimates process has been both
challenging and interesting - challenging because for the first time in 11 years
we had to prepare our questions without the collective knowledge of the public
service at our fingertips; interesting because this was our first chance to get
past the election hype and delve deeply into the new government’s policies and
spending priorities. As Deputy Chair of the Community Affairs Committee, I
quizzed the Government on its plans for health, ageing, Indigenous Affairs,
housing and families, and was able to shake loose a few facts they may have
wished to keep hidden.
In particular, I discovered that despite the
Government’s song and dance during the election about improving living standards
for older Australians, their ‘revolutionary’ formula for indexing pensions will
actually only make pensioners better off roughly once a decade. Labor had
promised that it would "index pensions by the Living Cost Index for Aged
Pensioner Households published by the ABS, the Consumer Price Index or 25 per
cent of Male Total Average Weekly Earnings – whichever is the greater.”
(‘Making Ends Meet – Federal Labor’s plans for older Australians’). Yet
when I asked the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs how often the ABS index has been higher than these other two,
I discovered this has only been the case on one single occasion in the last nine
years. Just once! This is why the Estimates process is so important – it allows
us to get right to the cold hard facts of a matter. And in this case, it has
allowed us to see the Government’s pensions promise for the empty rhetoric that
it is.
On a more positive note, I was pleased to
join with Senator Jan McLucas, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health and
Ageing, in a bi-partisan launch of National Organ Donation Awareness Week during
the first week of parliament. With only 198 organ donors in Australia last year,
but over 1700 people on transplant lists awaiting an organ, it is clear that
something must be done to boost donor numbers. Organ Donation Awareness Week
sets out to do this by publicising the difference donors can make to the lives
of terminally ill people, and encouraging people to ‘have a chat’ with their
family and friends about their wishes after death. Personally, I believe we need
to do much more than this to boost the number of donors in Australia, and I took
the opportunity to call for a radical re-think of how we manage organ donation
here. I plan to pursue this with my colleagues from both sides of the house, and
if nothing else I hope to start a new, national dialogue on this important
issue.
With so much happening in national politics,
it should have been easy to forget about local issues for a week or two, but
unfortunately national politics has become local with the Federal Government’s
announcement of its first big budget cuts. The National Capital Authority, the
Griffin Legacy upgrade to Constitution Avenue, our national institutions and
several Government departments have all faced big cuts in the past few weeks,
and the signs are that more cuts are on the way. While it is too early to say
exactly what the effect of these cuts will be, we can be sure they will mean
losses for Canberra, in terms of jobs, spending and even tourism. While I have
spent the last three weeks questioning every one of these cuts, Canberra’s Labor
representatives seem to have fallen in line behind Lindsay Tanner, as not one of
them has stood up against these cuts. This is very disappointing, as it is the
people of Canberra who will pay the cost for this.
With the Winter Recess coming up, I am looking forward to
catching up on things around the office, meeting with a number of constituents
and reading up on the new Bills which will come before the Senate when we next
sit. I know many of Canberra’s political junkies routinely read up on new
legislation too, so if you’ve got a thought or comment on any of the Bills
currently before Parliament, please feel free to send me an email. I look
forward to hearing your thoughts.
Gary
Thoughts on the election
The last two months have been extremely hectic,
and I don’t think I am alone in being relieved to have the Federal Election
behind us.
November 24th was a
bittersweet day for me – I was very sad to see our party defeated and so many of
my talented, able and energetic colleagues lose their seats. But at the same
time, I was happy and excited to be given the opportunity to represent the ACT
and its community for another three years. Thank you to everyone who supported
me through the campaign – particularly my family and staff, volunteers, party
members and casual well-wishers. It was a very hard-fought campaign, but I am
pleased and proud that my record of standing up for this city and its people, as
well as my plans to take us forward in the future, delivered me the necessary
support at the end of the day.
After such a tough campaign, I
am looking forward to spending some time with my family and close friends over
the Christmas season. This time of year seems specially designed for long, lazy
meals outside, pottering around in the garden and relaxing with a good book, and
I am hoping to do all of the above in the coming weeks. With a big year ahead of
us politically, I’ll be grabbing with both hands the opportunity to relax and
recharge!
The New Year will bring some
major changes, there can be no doubt about it. With a new Government eager to
put their own stamp on things, I believe we’ll see a lot of fresh legislation
put up for debate, and plenty of new faces throughout Canberra’s departments,
agencies and offices. The biggest job for us, as the new Opposition, will be to
examine each proposal for change and decide if these are worthy of our support.
I look forward to working with my Parliamentary colleagues, old and new, during
what will surely be a very interesting time.
Although I don’t generally make
New Year’s Resolutions, there are a number of things I will be aiming to achieve
for Canberra over the coming year. The Australian National Botanic Gardens have
been doing it tough because of the rising cost of water and utilities, and I
want to make sure the new Government follows through on its election promise to
give them new funds for water recycling infrastructure. I will also be lobbying
the Government to abandon its planned budget cuts to the National Capital
Authority, as the gutting of this agency would be very bad for our city.
On a more positive note, I will
be pursuing funding for the West Belconnen Community Health Centre, as I believe
this great community initiative deserves widespread support. I also want to help
the people of Tharwa get their valuable heritage bridge restored. These are just
a few of the key projects I will be working on over the coming year.
Of course, I also plan to
continue working with all of you on all the issues, big and small, which matter
to our community. If you have a problem, suggestion or idea, please feel free to
contact me.
Whether you spend Christmas with
family or friends, at home or away, I hope the holiday season is a time of
happiness, relaxation and pleasure for everyone. Merry Christmas, and I look
forward to working with you all again in 2008.
Gary
Welcome to my
new site!
Welcome to my new-look website.
We’ve added a lot of new material here: information about me and what I have
achieved in my time as Senator for the ACT; about Canberra and the issues which
are important to its people; and about the services, tools and contacts you
might find useful. I’d invite you to have a look around, and if there is
anything you feel is missing, please
let me know.
I
think my new site is a little bit like Canberra itself – it is colourful and
vibrant, full of ideas and interesting information, but also tidy, organised and
easy to get around!
As
you can tell, I am an unashamed cheerleader for Canberra. I think we live in one
of the best cities in Australia, a city which mixes an ancient natural beauty
with the bustle and excitement of our nation’s future being decided here, and
the community spirit of much smaller towns with the amenities of far larger
ones.
2007
marks 30 years since I first came here as a student, and I feel very lucky to
have been part of Canberra’s development and growth – first as a member of the
Legislative Assembly, and later in the Federal Parliament. It seems appropriate
then to launch my new website in this year, as it brings together everything
I’ve learned about Canberra so far, with where I’d like to take this city in the
future.
I
hope you will all share with me your visions for Canberra too, which is why I’ve
set up a
Have
Your Say survey where you can express your thoughts and ideas on
some specific issues.
As
Senator for the ACT, I take the views of my constituents very seriously. I look
forward to hearing from you all, and I hope you find my new website useful.
Gary
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