Page 2408 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Let me now turn to the Follett Government's capital works program which, I believe, will cause serious problems for employment. Borrowing for capital works is a legitimate exercise, provided that the ACT can service the debt. I am sure, Mr Speaker, that it was necessary for Mr Connolly to borrow to enable him to purchase his home, a capital asset. If it was not, I would have a bit of a problem - that is, if he was able to put down the necessary money for a home without any borrowings. We all know that there is a requirement these days for people to borrow in that situation because that is a capital asset. We all know that if you borrow on your Bankcard to pay for the daily running expenses of your home you very quickly get yourself into trouble. I am not suggesting that, Mr Speaker.
What I am suggesting is that, as my colleague Mr Collaery has already alluded to, it is appropriate for capital works that are required by a developing city to be provided for by a certain level of borrowing, provided that we can service it. It could be argued that in a recession when we are finding that people are prepared to quote much lower prices to keep themselves in employment and keep the work going so that employees do not have to leave town, as we are finding particularly in the building industry, it is possible to make a slight increase in capital works expenditure, subject to an ability to pay, so that you can upgrade and improve your employment base and the flow-on that takes place. Each job created provides other jobs, but each job loss means that four jobs are gone. (Extension of time granted)
There is a need to exercise care in spending the moneys from trust funds on projects that do not have a major effect on the reduction of recurrent expenditure. It would be of little use if the moneys held by the Federal Treasurer for one-off programs were used for the capital works budget at the expense of projects that would provide long-term recurrent savings.
The proposal to introduce an annual land tax on residential investment properties will, despite the suggestion of Mr Connolly, be a major expense for tenants in a tight rental market. We have the tightest rental market in Australia, Mr Speaker, and that, I would suggest, is going to cause Mr Connolly some problems in another part of his budget; but I am sure that he will find that out for himself.
In closing, as has already been said, this budget statement is lacking in vision. In this statement there is no vision or real facts to enable the community to start to see where our public accounts are going. Unfortunately, Mr Speaker, this is an attempt by a government in wonderland, and I trust that we will see some improvement in this process in the final budgetary statement; but I am afraid that I might be waiting for a long time.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .