Page 1527 - Week 05 - Thursday, 18 April 1991
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BUDGET
Ministerial Statement
Debate resumed from 21 March 1991, on motion by Mr Kaine:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
MS FOLLETT (Leader of the Opposition) (11.58): Mr Speaker, I welcome this opportunity to respond to Mr Kaine's statement on the 1990-91 ACT budget. I welcome it particularly as it again gives me an opportunity to express my concern about the Government's approach to budget management. The approach that I am concerned about is encapsulated by the Treasurer's statement in this Assembly that he considers the budget as simply budget estimates of expenditure. This is not a view that is shared by the Labor Party.
The budget, as embodied directly in the Appropriation Bill and indirectly in the supporting material provided to the Estimates Committee, is an enactment of this Assembly. It is legislation which this Assembly debates in considerable detail. Indeed, it is probably the most important legislation that we deal with. When this legislature debates the Appropriation Bill we do so on the basis of the information provided to us by the Government - information on the uses of the funds allocated to each division of that Bill.
Mr Speaker, we in the Assembly debate it in good faith, on the assumption that the information provided was and will remain accurate. I believe that the Government must also act in good faith. If, for unforeseen circumstances, it must adjust what funds are allocated within a division, it has a moral responsibility to inform this Assembly of such changes.
I am not denying, Mr Speaker, that it is prudent financial management to revise the budget in the light of changing circumstances and new information during the course of the year. What I am saying is that this Assembly and the people of Canberra we represent have a right to know the detail of such revisions. To some extent, almost solely in relation to the reallocation of funds resulting from underspending in the capital budget, the Treasurer has provided this detail. Regrettably, in the main, he has simply glossed over the changes.
Mr Speaker, will this Assembly be informed of the "potential off-setting reductions elsewhere" which Mr Kaine referred to when attempting to explain how the Government intended to deal with the blow-out in the health budget? Mr Speaker, I believe that the Treasurer is morally, if not legally, obliged to provide that information.
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