Page 2183 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 6 June 1990
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PRIORITIES REVIEW BOARD
Ministerial Statement and Papers
Debate resumed from 29 May 1990, on motion by Mr Kaine:
That the Assembly takes note of the following papers:
Priorities Review Board -
Ministerial statement, 29 May 1990.
Priorities for improved public sector management -
Consultants report to the board.
Report, dated May 1990.
MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition) (3.10): Mr Speaker, we are all aware of the fact that the Commonwealth Grants Commission in successive reports found that the ACT was overfunded in comparison with the other States. It is true that the latest Grants Commission review found that the ACT was overfunded to the extent of some $76m. What that figure is now is open to debate. To some extent these financial realities are the reason the ACT was given self-government. We are also all aware that overfunding to the extent that it exists will be removed by the Commonwealth.
These are not the issues over which the financial debate in the ACT is occurring. There are two fundamental points of disagreement between the Labor Party, along with most of the ACT community, and the Alliance Government. These are the speed of the transition process and actions that are taken to bring about the transition. These are not necessarily arguments about facts; they are more arguments about what we believe in.
Recent statements by the Chief Minister make it quite clear that the Alliance Government supports a short transition period. Mr Kaine continually uses scare tactics, suggesting that the Commonwealth funding tap will be completely turned off after 1990-91. He wants the people of Canberra to believe that he is being forced by the Commonwealth to make major cuts in the ACT budget over the next two years and there is nothing he can do about it.
This is not fact. It is simply the Chief Minister's way of implementing his social agenda for Canberra. His agenda, like that of all Liberal governments, is one of smaller government producing fewer services. It is one where most people buy education and health services from the private sector in the open market.
The facts are that the transition period need not be as short as Mr Kaine suggests. The letter to Mr Kaine from the Prime Minister, which he held up as showing that the Commonwealth funding would end in 1991, in fact makes this clear. It states that, following the end of the real terms guarantee in 1990-91, the Commonwealth and the ACT will negotiate on transitional funding for 1991-92 and 1992-93. Quite properly, the Prime Minister suggests that the basis
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