Page 231 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 1990
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committed to achieving the best and most equitable deal it can for the ACT from the Commonwealth. It will not, like the previous Government, kowtow to Keating and Walsh.
No, we will ensure that the ACT's case is put in the strongest way possible. We will be concentrating especially on the review of ACT finances by the Grants Commission this year. As the Chief Minister said, however, we cannot afford to delay addressing the need for economies. I would say that even though this debate has been brought on with political motives in mind - by jingo, it is another boomerang, is it not? It should serve, not to attack the present Government's policies but rather to raise the community's awareness of the gravity of the situation that the ACT faces. It is in that context, as I said this morning, when the Chief Minister is referring to 3,000 jobs that finally people have sat up and taken notice.
We have been saying for some time, long before the change of Government, that this place was in a parlous state. The amount of money we were required to find was in the order of $100m. No-one seems to listen to you when you put it in figures such as $100m. It has obviously got too many noughts on it for that side to comprehend. Put it into 3,000 jobs and people do understand what it means. Finally people are starting to sit up and take notice and pay attention. We cannot possibly adopt the policy of the Opposition. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and simply hope that things will not need to be changed, that some day things will be better. We need greater information about the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing processes we have in place today. The Priorities Review Board appointed by the Chief Minister will work closely with the Government and the ACT departments and authorities to identify areas in which economies and efficiencies can be achieved.
What we are talking about is spending the dollar better. We are not talking about cutting the dollars. We are not talking about putting the knife in. We are simply talking about efficient practices. It is not a razor gang but a serious attempt to make ACT programs and services as cost-effective as possible. Strangely enough, that does not have support. Most importantly though, it will be seeking a management structure appropriate to the ACT Government. The committee has an advisory role only. The Government itself will be responsible for policy decisions which may arise from its findings and recommendations.
If we do not actively seek to improve efficiency other services will suffer in order to support inefficiencies. In other words, we will be spending bad dollars here and as a result of not finding out and stopping that spending of bad dollars the good dollars will get cut as well. This is a ridiculous situation. This is not in the Government's interest or the community's and people should support that action. We must address the restructuring required in ACT
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