Page 1177 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
At the outset, let me remind members of the Alliance Government budgetary strategy which has been restated consistently since our taking government in December 1989. There are four key goals for establishing a fair and responsible approach to financial management. They have been in place since December 1989, and I repeat them. They are: To promote the development of the private sector; to produce a balanced recurrent budget; to minimise borrowings; and to make better use of the Territory's existing capital base.
I believe that the outcome of the 1990-91 budget will reinforce these goals not only as being achievable but also as the most responsible approach to managing the Territory's finances, particularly as negotiations will soon be held with the Commonwealth on further transitional funding arrangements. Members will recall that the original three-year period of transition fixed by the Commonwealth will expire on 30 June, which is only three months from now.
Long-term restructuring and targeted expenditure reductions will continue to be crucial to the strategies of the ACT Government to bring expenditure within the bounds of our expectations for revenue from the Commonwealth which will flow from the report of the Commonwealth Grants Commission to be presented early next month. This element of the strategy of cost constraint will be particularly important during the difficult economic period that Australia is continuing to face and which will exacerbate the challenges that the Alliance Government must meet in negotiating and managing the transition to State-type funding levels.
At the national level and in some States, notably Victoria and Western Australia, economic conditions have deteriorated since the preparation of their 1990-91 budgets. Nationally, we have seen the budget surplus dwindle and disappear. At the State level, budget outcome expectations are in serious jeopardy. The impact of the national recession has been less severe on the ACT than in most States - partly through stabilising factors peculiar to the ACT, but also partly through positive policies and tight control at the total budget level in the ACT. Although ACT unemployment has increased over the summer period, it is below national levels and employment has continued to increase in contrast to falls nationally.
A recovery in ACT retail turnover, which began in the middle of 1990, has slowed; but population growth, the January tax cuts and lower interest rates should help to maintain sales in 1991. The public sector has provided some stability for the ACT economy, helping to sustain job growth and retail turnover. But it is clear that high interest rate policies adopted by the Commonwealth Government are still affecting the private sector, showing up here particularly in subdued levels of non-residential building approvals.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .