Page 2179 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 2 August 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
self-government! Our net debt of $5 billion is forecast to be over $9 billion by 2024-25.
What this means for Canberrans—from Banks to Bonner, from Molonglo Valley to west Belconnen and everyone in between, all of us Canberrans—is a real impact on the hospitals, which we are being told to stay away from because they cannot cope. It means a real impact on schools that our children are being banned from because of shocking violence and toxic materials; a real impact on our safety, with police not even being able to attend crimes when they are reported; a real impact on the pride we have in our city, a city that is befitting of the nation’s capital, when we see potholes on our roads, cracks in our footpaths and grass waist high because this government cannot even get the basics right. Over $5 billion in net debt is forecast to be over $9 billion by 2024-25.
Whilst the Chief Minister is on a scare campaign, perhaps he should realise that independent budget audits have been employed by many governments of all political stripes and colours across the country to do what all prudent, responsible governments should do, and that is to be fiscally responsible with taxpayers’ moneys. The most recent subnational government to do so was the Northern Territory, under a Labor government in 2019.
The government that is undertaking a very similar exercise right now is the federal Labor government, under the helm of the ACT’s own senator, Katy Gallagher. In fact, days after being sworn in as the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher said that she will “go through line by line the budget to see where there are areas we can make sensible savings and return that money back to the budget”. Even Senator Gallagher seems to understand that any prudent, responsible government must know that racking up record levels of debt cannot continue forever.
Mr Cocks, in his inaugural speech this morning, reminded us of a time when the Treasurer, at least when he entered this parliament, also valued fiscal responsibility in government. I quote him again because I think it is very worthwhile. In his inaugural speech, Mr Barr said:
There is no point in being in government if you cannot make people’s lives better. And you cannot do that if you are not paying attention to the economy. Good governments manage the economy responsibly, and that good management leads to benefits for all the community. It is what underpins the delivery of the services that Canberrans want and need.
Running a surplus operating budget provides intergenerational equity. It means that each generation of the ACT community pays for the government services they are receiving. A surplus budget is vital to maintaining the territory’s AAA credit rating. A surplus budget also provides the basis for managing the risks and uncertainties that will inevitably arise in the future. That is the reason why this government has delivered successive budget surpluses totalling $250 million since coming to office.
It seems that the years have not been kind to the Treasurer’s sense of fiscal responsibility, because those words are in stark contrast to what we have been hearing from the Treasurer in the last few years—and particularly the last few days.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video