Page 1160 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 3 April 1990
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starting to realise why Royal Canberra Hospital is being closed. Statements by Mr Kaine's business mates are making that clear. The Liberal Alliance wants to give Acton Peninsula, a community asset, to the property developers.
There is vague talk of school closures, and I warn Mr Kaine to tread very warily in this direction. Our neighbourhood school system has produced a sense of community surrounding the local school which does not exist elsewhere. The closure of a school is not simply an education decision; it is a community decision.
The Chief Minister also talks of "substantial savings" being required from TAFE, some of which are to be achieved by reducing the number of courses. The details of all of these cost savings are to be worked out by the Priorities Review Board. It is this group rather than the community who will be determining the quality of public health and education. It is this group whom the Government will be consulting about public sector priorities. Yet this group includes no public sector representative, no work force representative, no community representative. Mr Speaker, I reject that approach.
I have said much over recent months about the need to have a balanced approach to the budget - the need not only to look at the expenditure side of the ledger, but also at the revenue side. The Chief Minister usually only talks about expenditure cuts. Whenever he talks of the Grants Commission assessed overfunding, he talks only of overspending. The Chief Minister appears to be determined to mislead the people of Canberra. The fact is that the Grants Commission found that some 40 per cent of our assessed overfunding related to a less than standard revenue effort.
Why is the Chief Minister blind to this aspect of the Grants Commission's work? It is obviously not because he is concerned that the average citizen is suffering under too high a tax burden. In fact, there is only one occasion in the entire budget strategy statement where the Chief Minister indicates that a tax increase is in store. And where is that? It is the tax which most directly affects the average citizen, municipal rates.
During the election last year, both Mr Kaine and I gave a commitment that we would not increase rates in our first term. I stuck by this commitment by simply indexing rate revenue after the property revaluations last year. Mr Kaine, on the other hand, has wasted no time in indicating that he has no intention of doing the same.
The Chief Minister couches his comments in terms of some artificial distinction between municipal and Territorial expenditure. That may be a useful accounting distinction, but it serves little other useful purpose. It is in fact just another flimsy excuse for yet another broken promise.
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