Page 1104 - Week 04 - Thursday, 29 March 1990
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the basis for our approach to the many issues that impact on economic development. I will be seeking input from both business and the broader community on specific issues and policies.
The Budget Strategy
I have described how this Government intends to advance the ACT economy and I have highlighted the limitations on how much effect this Government, and indeed any State government, can have on local economic conditions.
Now I want to discuss how my Government will approach the budget tasks in coming years. As I have already said, responsible ACT budgeting is essential to business and community confidence and to the long term health of the ACT economy. We cannot afford to grab at apparently easy solutions to the long term problems facing us.
The Government is committed to a strategy which will address the transition to State-like funding. Our two key targets in this area are to achieve balanced recurrent budgets and to limit our level of borrowings to responsible levels.
I shall outline shortly the magnitude of this task and the approach I have already made to the Commonwealth Government asking that it extend the transition period and assist us to meet some of the responsibilities passed to us at self-government.
Our strategy is a long term one, not just a patch up to meet this year's and next year's budget problems. I am identifying the strategies now so that the community can see where we are going, what must be changed and, just as important, what we need to preserve and improve.
Forward Estimates
The Forward Estimates report for 1990-91 through to 1992-93, which I am tabling concurrently with this statement, indicates the magnitude of the task facing the ACT in the next few years.
The estimates are forecasts of likely expenditure and receipts based on the policies and priorities set in place in this year, 1989-90. Let me emphasise that the estimates are projections of this year's figures. They reflect no political judgments of the Alliance Government because those judgments have yet to be made for inclusion in the 1990-91 Budget. The estimates reflect the impact of forecast levels of population, employment and urban development on expenditure and receipts.
One key assumption in the Forward Estimates is that the Commonwealth will maintain its financial assistance to the ACT in real terms. In fact, we cannot proceed on any other basis. The Commonwealth promised to maintain funding at
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