Page 920 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 21 April 2021
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their contributions yesterday evening. They were insightful and demonstrated that, sometimes, the more things change the more they stay the same.
I will cover Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development priorities within this budget, and endeavour to keep my remarks to within 15 minutes, lest I be whipped into—
Ms Lee interjecting—
MR BARR: Indeed, yes—into resuming my seat. It goes without saying that the delivery of the 2020-21 budget was somewhat unusual, coming very late in the fiscal year and, of course, impacted by COVID and the territory election.
I would remind members, and particularly those who are quick in their commentary around delivery of election commitments, that this is the first of five budgets in this parliamentary term, and that the priorities outlined in detail in the parliamentary and governing agreement for the Tenth Legislative Assembly—and that include a range of actions to improve the wellbeing of Canberrans and our environment, with a particular focus on addressing climate change, protecting and creating jobs, and supporting Canberra’s most vulnerable—will be delivered progressively over these five budgets.
The 2020-21 budget provides funding for many of these significant priorities, including the $150 million Sustainable Household Scheme, $100 million towards the Big Canberra Battery, $50 million towards the Vulnerable Household Energy Support scheme, a program to encourage the shift to zero emissions vehicles and, of course, increased funding to strengthen housing and homelessness services.
The budget also reaffirms the government’s commitment to key infrastructure projects, including light rail extension, the Canberra Hospital expansion, the new CIT campus in Woden, the rollout of the walk-in health centre network, and the construction and expansion of public schools across the city.
I now turn to the broader economic picture, which is very encouraging. In spite of some of the commentary from others last night, the ACT is in fact in a very good position. Our gross state product grew by 2.4 per cent in fiscal year 2019-20. That is the second highest growth rate of all jurisdictions in Australia, and we would be amongst a very small number in the world where our economy actually grew during the pandemic.
Since the territory budget released in February, I can advise the Assembly that the territory’s state final demand was revised up, from growth of two per cent to 2.4 per cent in the September quarter 2020, and by a further 1.3 per cent in the December quarter. As a result, I can advise that the territory’s gross state product growth in the current fiscal year, 2020-21, is likely to outperform our budget time estimate of two per cent.
Economic growth is being supported by incredibly strong household consumption, dwelling investment and, pleasingly, a faster recovery in private business investment than we had previously expected.
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