Page 1279 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 16 April 1991
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On the contrary, it indicates that we will still have to effect budget adjustments in 1991-92 of a similar order of magnitude to those put into effect in this current year's budget. The task facing the Government in continuing to control expenditures remains very severe, notwithstanding the transitional allowances proposed by the commission. The ACT faces the prospect of significant further financial pressures in the forthcoming budget. We cannot anticipate, at this stage, the outcome of negotiations with the Commonwealth.
Major policy initiatives have already been decided upon in the most significant areas of excess expenditure identified in the report as part of our plan to get our house in order, and they are being put into effect. Hospital services are being consolidated with the establishment of a principal hospital and the better use of Calvary Hospital being undertaken to improve the quality of services at a cost that we can afford. As the commission's report acknowledges, several years will be required in order for those initiatives to achieve the full results we are seeking. Indeed, the Government had assumed that the full benefit would probably not be achieved in less than five years. In education, the cost-saving measures introduced since self-government have clearly been shown to be necessary and unavoidable, if even greater disruption in future years is to be avoided.
I am confident that the outcome of reviews currently under way, such as schools task force and the review of high schools in the Belconnen area, will also identify substantial additional benefits for the community, benefits which we must obtain in light of the adjustment task left to us by the Commonwealth. The program to place ACT TAFE progressively on a more viable basis is clearly essential and will assist in overcoming the financial problems that have been repeatedly identified in that sector.
The efforts already made in these functional areas, and which we will continue, will protect the ACT from an unacceptably high tax burden in the future. In addition to these, the Government is considering how to come to grips with the identified overfunding of the police services. We will not tolerate any diminution in protection for the community. I am appreciative of the deservedly high reputation of the Australian Federal Police. Police salaries, of course, are not subject to ACT Government influence. However, we will, of necessity, be closely examining service delivery arrangements in policing to ensure that overheads are reasonable, that efficiency is as high as possible, and that we do not require our police to carry out unnecessary functions.
We have an objective of continuing revision of all government agencies to ensure that the community receives value for money. The police will be included in this continuing review. We are moving to a major restructuring of the machinery of government to ensure that it best suits
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