Page 1954 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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In many cases both the number and the condition of the buildings and infrastructure elements at self-government were completely unknown. We are now faced with the budgetary and administrative tasks of rationalising assets. We must also devote more resources to those that we retain in order to restore them to a condition of good repair.
The committee found that the Commonwealth had an obligation to provide financial assistance to the ACT to help it in this task, and I can only agree with that. Clearly the Commonwealth had no coordinated perspective for its administration of the Australian Capital Territory. While one area was well funded for the construction of major assets such as roads and buildings, considerably less funding was allocated to their maintenance and there was no clear management policy for the long-term utilisation of the asset base.
One of the very many benefits of self-government is that we are looking at the ACT as a whole and bringing a balance between the quality of services, the quality of assets and sound administration generally. Mr Speaker, I am pleased that Justice Else-Mitchell's committee also supports the ACT's position on a range of matters that have already been taken up with the Commonwealth. One of the most important of these is the question of debt. The committee has concluded that the ACT should not be burdened by some notionally calculated historical level of debt. Instead, the committee has considered that the ACT should be treated in the same way as the Northern Territory was at self-government. It should only have a debt liability for its commercially based functions such as electricity, water and sewerage, and housing.
The committee also found that the Commonwealth has an obligation to provide financial assistance to the ACT to meet a range of liabilities, including the past long service leave entitlements of its employees. Importantly, the committee has also come out in support of the ACT in its attempts to recover large amounts of land that were held back by the Commonwealth on the eve of self-government. These include Gowrie Hostel, the National Convention Centre and large tracts of land suitable for residential development which are currently occupied by the CSIRO. The Government is also seeking to have the Commonwealth transfer large areas of defence land which would also be suitable for residential development.
Mr Speaker, the report has vindicated the position that has been held by members of the Government since before self-government, particularly the Liberal Party and the Residents Rally. An incoming government simply must know the answers to the two fundamental questions: what do we own, and what do we owe? I am therefore grateful to the committee for providing answers to these two questions and to so many other issues relating to the accounting for and management of assets, debt and other liabilities.
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