Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 20th anniversary of the election of the Howard government is a dark day for Canberra. Upon its election, the Howard government took an axe to our nation's capital—it took an axe to our city. It sacked 15,000 public servants here in Canberra—and I was one of them—and 30,000 nationally. This had a devastating effect on the Canberra region. House prices plummeted, people left town, businesses and non-business bankruptcies skyrocketed and local shops closed down. Canberra went into an economic slump that took us five years to shake off. This economic slump was felt right throughout the region—in Queanbeyan, in Yass and down at the South Coast.

We remember 1996. We remember the contempt and disdain shown by the Howard government towards the Public Service, our servants of democracy and our nation's capital. We remember the devastation that was rort on this city. We are seeing it again with this Abbott-Turnbull government. The government has axed 8½ thousand Public Service jobs. It has axed scientists. It has axed funding to our cultural institutions. It is the same old form that we saw in the Howard government. For Canberra, 1996 was a very bad year. It was a very dark time. We saw people leave town. We saw jobs being cut. We saw the whole region being affected. Twenty years on, we have nothing to celebrate from the Howard government. (Time expired)