Page 1858 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 May 1990
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Obviously, what Ms Follett is telling us is that somehow, at the end of those two years of transitional funding, the ACT will magically find enough money to maintain services at the present levels. Ms Follett appears not to be willing to make any allowance for that whenever it comes up, and I say that deliberately because I do not believe she has conceded a single point in respect of the Government's program of reducing costs in the ACT. She has not conceded that a single thing we have done is in the right vein, is positively directed towards reducing the costs of providing services in the ACT. There has been not one concession on her part. As Mr Jensen clearly indicates, others in the debate have indicated that; others are more willing to be realistic and are prepared to acknowledge that there is a very strong case for making reductions in the delivery of services in the ACT.
It is true that in many cases those individuals acknowledge the general aim but are reluctant to consider the particular aim in the case of services directly affecting them. That is the responsibility that is thrust on government and one which we cannot afford to ignore. We will, therefore, examine questions of funding reductions, funding savings, in every area of government. We will not be excluding any particular area. As I have indicated already, education will be, and is, one of those areas.
I think we have to examine just what sort of support we can expect from our colleagues on the other side of the lake. I mentioned, I think, in a debate yesterday that we have had considerably contradictory remarks on the part of many members of the Federal Labor Party. I quoted, I think, Senator McMullan's remarks concerning the need for us to adjust our sights, to encourage different expectations on the part of the community. We also heard, I think today, his view that there ought not to be any increases in taxes and charges to the ACT. Senator McMullan, unfortunately, does not provide an easy answer as to what the ACT must do, nor, for that matter, do the people opposite. I have not heard a single constructive suggestion about how the ACT is supposed to find its way out of this morass.
I fully expect, in the coming days, to hear Ms Follett criticising the Government for its tax and charge increases that were announced yesterday by the Chief Minister, even though she has, over the last few weeks, at the meetings that I have attended, constantly called on the Government to increase its revenue catch as a way of meeting the particular problems that we are now facing. I do not think Ms Follett has any solution to the problems that are before the ACT, and she is secretly very glad that it is not her Government that is now facing those problems.
A press statement, dated 22 May, from the ACT Teachers Federation is evidence of the very obvious belief by others in the Territory that there is the need for the ACT to take matters into its own hands. It stated:
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