Page 2412 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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et cetera, et cetera. I really do not understand a word of that. I am not going to bother to read any more of it, Mr Speaker, because I think it is as clear to me as it is to everybody else.
I think Ian Davis, in the Canberra Times, when reviewing this statement, described its vagueness and lack of detail as its strength because, in fact, only a government can make decisions about the important matters that supposedly the Follett Government was putting out for public consultation. Of course, he has a point there. Whether deceiving the public is a strength or not, I do not comment on; but I certainly think it is regrettable that one should pretend that one is actually getting a budgetary strategy worked out through this kind of bizarre process.
Mr Duby has already drawn attention to the vague statements about youth unemployment. I cannot add much to what he has said about that. I am amazed, with all the criticism that was coming forward of the Alliance Government over the question of youth unemployment, that we should see such marked lack of detail, lack of answers, on the part of the new Follett Government. It was easy to criticise, of course; but now, when answers are required, when its own alternatives are needed, it is found lacking, and passing around the suggestion box is hardly a solution.
Mr Speaker, I am quite pleased to see that the Government intends to minimise borrowings. It is a very laudable aim, an aim shared with the Alliance Government; but, Mr Speaker, cuts in capital works are a poor way of achieving that. I think that, in particular, Mr Moore, who supported this particular measure, ought to realise that the cost of cutting capital works can be measured very much in human terms. The hospice is a very good example of that. It is also a very good example of taking short-term gain, that is, cutting from the capital works budget, for long-term pain.
The facilities which we do not build at this time or construct at this time in order to save money in this election budget will cost the Territory in terms of services in the long term, and I, for one, will be reminding the Labor Party in years to come, when particular facilities are found to be wanting, that those problems relate directly, in some cases, to the decisions it has made in this particular budget. I quote, for example, the decision not to proceed with the relocation of the Belconnen TAFE or the decision not to construct a new fire station in the Civic area. Those things, I think, will come home to haunt this Government.
The most glaring omission, however, Mr Speaker, in this document is obviously in the area of health services. Under a heading in the document at page 15, "Health", we see three short paragraphs which say, in effect, nothing about the important problems facing us in health. I quote:
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