Page 3843 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 October 1991
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No State or Territory has ever before faced a collapse in Commonwealth support of the magnitude that the ACT has this year.
She went on:
Commonwealth general purpose and special assistance, which represents half of our total recurrent and capital income, has been cut by 8 per cent in real terms. This contrasts with maintenance of real terms funding to the States.
And further:
Leaving aside the $53m previously withheld by the Commonwealth, the reduction in the ACT's general revenue funding base is almost 20 per cent in real terms in a single year.
That is the framework in which this budget was made. We all recognise the constraints that were imposed upon it, and I believe that that has been accepted in this Assembly. I think the Assembly has acted accordingly.
This matter has not been debated until today. I think it is eight - or is it nine? - sitting days since that obviously authoritative leak was first reported in the Canberra Times, which brought a torrent of questions from the Opposition, none of which referred to this matter until Mr Humphries asked a question on the Thursday of that last sitting week. A question was asked yesterday by Mr Stevenson.
We have had two questions and, until Mr Stevenson raised this today, no debate on it as a matter of public importance while on a number of days there has been no MPI at all. There has been ample opportunity for debate and questioning in this Assembly. I think it is fair to say that that reflects the acknowledgment by members of this Assembly that the circumstances are difficult and that the Government needed to take strong action.
It is interesting that it was Mr Stevenson who proposed this measure today. It was not the shadow spokesperson from the Liberal Party or the Residents Rally. To the best of my knowledge, they have not proposed this matter; they are now following the lead of Mr Stevenson, the campaigner for all sorts of weird issues in the ACT and elsewhere. Mr Humphries is now following him and supporting him in this debate.
I repeat that I believe that that is a recognition by members of this Assembly that the measures that we took were understandable, at least. You know; you have seen it. You have been at the Estimates Committee hearings where you raised this matter, as you should have done. You know that virtually all programs in all areas have been cut. You know also that government education was cut and that non-government education could not be excluded from the cuts.
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