Page 3072 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 10 September 1991
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I agree with that entirely. She then goes on and says:
With a small and already stretched State-type budget, I do not believe that the ACT Government can responsibly engage in massive intervention in the local economy.
We are not talking about massive intervention; we are talking about some relatively minor changes to the works program that will allow a reasonable flow of work. I refer back to page 6 of the report, paragraph 3.8. Mrs Grassby refers to "massive intervention". Our recommendation was:
... that the Government should undertake a review of the new capital works budget with a view to ensuring that the level of economic activity generated is sufficient to help prevent any substantial increase in the level of unemployment.
That is what the recommendation is about. It is in no way a massive change or a massive intervention. Even the total works program is not massive by any standards. So, we see these emotive words being thrown in here. Mrs Grassby says:
To advocate that a government undertake a large borrowing program at this time is contrary to the sound economic management policies ...
If anybody knows about sound economic policies it is the Liberals, and we put our policies into effect while we were in government. But she talks about "a large borrowing program". I refer back to page 6 of our report. This is part of our recommendation:
Any budgetary shortfall that such a diversion of funds may cause should be covered by a modest borrowing program.
A modest borrowing program, not a large borrowing program. So, the words change; from the recommendations of the committee, the Labor Government puts it forward as being exactly the opposite to what we are recommending. Mrs Grassby then, as I said, resorts to the political ideology. She finds it extraordinary that the Liberal Party is recommending embarking on a "borrow at all costs" approach. The Liberal Party is doing nothing of the kind. The Liberal Party is taking a responsible approach to the ACT economy and recommending to the Government, in conjunction with the other members of the committee, other than Mrs Grassby, that the Government take a responsible economic view. That is exactly what we are saying.
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