Page 1090 - Week 06 - Thursday, 27 July 1989
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above that going out in expenditure. So there is a forward estimate there of a $3m shortfall in 1990 or thereabouts.
Mr Speaker, it is not clear how these shortfalls are balanced out and whether the housing aspect of the budget cannot be more innovative and more rewarding in terms of the returns to the ACT exchequer. The Rally is concerned that this budget fails to reflect a number of community initiatives that could have been available to it. For example, Mr Speaker - - -
MR SPEAKER: Mr Collaery, your time has expired.
MR DUBY (3.46): Mr Speaker, I do not intend to comment at large upon the items which have been placed before us in this 1989 initial budget statement. I note the comments of Mr Kaine and Mr Collaery about the fact that this is an unusual process for a government to adopt, that of releasing budget figures prior to the bringing down of an official budget. It is hoped that the concept of consultation which the Government has espoused is to be adopted.
With that in mind, an analysis of these figures is extremely hard to do on short notice. As a result, as I said earlier, my party will be going through all items of expenditure and revenue, noting where the axe will fall and where the cow is going to get milked from.
Mr Moore: That is a bit of a mixed metaphor.
Mr Kaine: You mean which cow the milk is going to come from.
MR DUBY: As Mr Collaery likes to say, "We will walk the tightrope and bite the bullet". There is every possibility of that, too. We noticed when we looked through the proposed budget there were a number of items of concern, which makes us wonder just what is going on. I just mention some of these items off the top of my head. I am pleased to see motorcycle training is being brought in - as people know, it is a hobbyhorse of mine - but, at only $30,000, that to me seems to be woefully insufficient for an important item like that.
When we go through some of the capital expenditure items one stands out like a sore thumb. It is a matter of something like $7.3m, I believe, for a panel beating shop at TAFE. That seems to me to be an extraordinary amount of money to be putting into something like that. As I said, without knowing the facts, it is very easy to get up and criticise these items. What needs to be done is to look at the actual government program and to determine whether these expenditures are valid.
With that in mind, having looked, though generally, at the figures, particularly in relation to community service expenditure, we note there have been quite drastic cuts in
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