Page 3934 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 October 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: The state of the house actually is quite all right now. We now have 10 people in the house. Continue, Mr Kaine.
MR KAINE: I did say that I thought members would want to make some comment on this matter. I do not think the Treasurer will be disappointed.
Two days after the Treasurer presented her budget I made a speech in reply. I made some comments about the budget then. I made the point, even at that time, that the budget had failed to confront the reality of the financial situation in which the Territory found itself; that it reflected the Treasurer herself in that there was a propensity for focusing on the peripheral problems and ignoring the central fundamental issues that the budget should have addressed; that it in fact ignored the long-term economic reality; and that it was quite clearly aimed at the February election and the Government hoped that it would hold together until then.
In respect of confronting the fundamental problems, which is what budgets ought to do, and confronting the long-term economic realities, one can make a judgment about whether the budget is likely to succeed. But it certainly failed in the sense that the Treasurer and her Government aimed this budget at the February election. It is already clear that the Government has failed on that objective, because the effects of the budget are quite selective and quite discriminatory, and the debate, both in this house and outside it, in the very short time since the budget was tabled, demonstrates quite clearly that that is how the community perceives this budget; it is selective and it is discriminatory.
We have already seen the parents of students at some of our schools protesting outside this building because this budget is discriminatory in connection with them. We have already seen protests from members of the Australian Federal Police - people who are not accustomed to such action and who are not traditionally out there on the streets protesting. But we have had a very strong protest from the Australian Federal Police Association on the basis that this budget was discriminatory in connection with them. We have had a very strong protest from the real estate industry. (Quorum formed)
I was talking about the failure of this budget in the sense that, to reiterate, it appears to be simply a grab bag of things thrown together with no particular objective in mind, except to survive until the February election, while hoping that it does not all fall apart in the meantime. If that is not so, I would like the Treasurer and Chief Minister to tell me what the fundamental issues are that this budget addresses, and what the long-term objectives are that she is addressing with the thrust of this budget. I cannot find any.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .