Page 4298 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 20 November 1990
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To continue to maintain high quality services in this transitional environment, my Government has had to restrain expenditure. In doing so, the Government has recognised the overfunding identified by the Grants Commission and the legacy of years of neglect left by the Commonwealth. Against this background the Government has introduced a number of major initiatives in this budget which are not just cost-cutting. They include restructuring initiatives approved on the basis that significant ongoing or longer-term savings will result from an initial outlay. It is these one-off outlays which result in a real expenditure increase this year with the aim of achieving reductions in expenditure in future years. That has been achieved within a balanced, recurrent budget. I believe that that is a prudent course of action to follow.
In total, expenditure reductions and savings flowing from these initiatives will result in savings of $18m this year and $40m in a full year. This information, Mr Speaker, is clearly identified in budget paper No. 2. Either Mr Moore cannot read, or he does not want to acknowledge what he has read.
The increase of 15 per cent expenditure on ACT public sector capital works is primarily attributable to the commencement this year of construction work associated with the principal hospital redevelopment project and increased activity by ACT Electricity and Water, funded from its own resources, not from the consolidated fund.
The up-front investment to redevelop the hospitals will produce significant ongoing savings in later years while maintaining high quality health services. In case Mr Berry is going to interject, let me say that we are spending approximately $60m less than he intended to spend on the same reconstruction program. Further, Ministers and supporting officials have gone to some lengths to assist Mr Moore in understanding the various adjustments made between last year and this year and the Government agrees to give further consideration to reconciliation statements, as I have already indicated, to assist the estimates committees in future years.
Mr Speaker, the report also made reference to the use of consultants by the ACT Government Service. Following the committee,s report I have initiated a joint review by the Office of Public Sector Management and the ACT Treasury on the use of consultants. The review will further examine the information provided to the Estimates Committee on the 1989-90 consultancy use, together with the guidelines, to ensure that the best value for money is being obtained both now and in the future and that ACT Government Service staff are used in preference to consultants wherever possible. The Government agrees that we should be using our staff to the best advantage and not using consultants unless it is absolutely essential. We do not argue with that concept at all.
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