Page 480 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 June 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I will cover in my remarks to you today the financial arrangements relating to the new Government of this Territory. The form of government most appropriate in the ACT will later be endorsed and addressed by my colleague Ms Maher, who will also refer to the method and practice of the first ACT election, and the reserve powers retained by the Commonwealth will also later be addressed by you, Mr Speaker.
Let me begin by referring to the financial arrangements. This is the crucible in which the welfare of the people of the ACT will be determined. Every aspect of the affairs of this Territory will hinge on our ability to find the financial capacity to ensure the continuance or enhancement of the Canberra way of life that our citizens enjoy.
Let us look in some detail at the Commonwealth commitment. In 1984 the then Minister, Mr Tom Uren, stated in tabling the task force report on implementation of ACT self-government, the so-called Craig report:
Financial arrangements would be built around a five year transition period involving appropriate financial guarantees and designed to minimise disruption and enable the fullest opportunity for the negotiation of future funding levels.
This commitment amounted to a close approximation to the maintenance of services to our community until the new governing body had sufficient time over the next five years to vary expenditure and taxes to meet the priorities of the local community and to align our finances more closely with the States. This was watered down in 1988 in budget related paper No. 7 circulated by the then Minister, Mr Gary Punch, to read:
... the maintenance of Commonwealth funding to the ACT budget, for three years commencing 1988-89, at the same real levels as in 1987-88. The Commonwealth will then agree funding levels with the ACT Government for the following two years to ensure a smooth transition to Commonwealth/State and local government arrangements.
The budget paper went on to say:
The Northern Territory was afforded similar consideration in its transition to self-government.
This assertion of parity of treatment with the Northern Territory is a gross exaggeration and I will take that point up later. But the point to make here is that the Commonwealth commitment to maintain services in Canberra has been watered down to maintenance of real expenditure in the Territory for just three years.
This meant that, as the Commonwealth contributes about two-thirds of our revenue and this sum was fixed, then, when
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .