Page 6193 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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The Forward Estimates indicate that an adjustment of $5.7m is required in 1992-93 to achieve a balanced recurrent budget. This relatively sound position can be largely attributed to the full year effect of the difficult revenue and expenditure savings initiatives introduced by my Government in the 1991-92 budget. However, as a result of the continuing likely decline in Commonwealth assistance and the debt servicing impact of the new borrowing requirements, the gap increases to $10.3m in 1993-94 and $18.4m in 1994-95. These gap figures can be compared to the 1991-92 recurrent budget gap of $20.5m identified in last year's published Forward Estimates.
My Government will deal with these funding shortfalls through a continuation of the approaches used this financial year. We shall continue to listen to the community's views and aim to maintain a high level of quality government services. A significant part of this strategy will be the ongoing allowance of $10m to fund restructuring projects aimed at long-term savings to the budget. These investments will be essential if the ACT's long-term financial position is to be secured.
Mr Speaker, this report will now be made available to the public. Members will recall that it was my Government which decided in 1989 to take the unprecedented step of unveiling Forward Estimates of both revenue and expenditure. That decision has allowed informed public debate about the budget position of the Territory. The Labor Government is pleased to continue its open budget processes with the release of this report. We are confident that the Canberra community will see these Forward Estimates as further evidence of the responsible management which has been provided by this Government.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.14): Mr Speaker, I would like to speak briefly to the motion. Obviously, I have not had a great deal of time to examine the Forward Estimates, but there are one or two comments that I think need to be made. I note that the Chief Minister predicates her projection on a continuing strong economy in the ACT. I think some of the figures that have been coming out lately would raise questions about that, particularly the fall-off in tourism turnover, which would suggest that we are starting to feel the impact of the recession, as the rest of Australia has, and that the impact could well extend to employment, turnover in retail stores and the like.
I am not convinced that our economy is going to stand up as well over the next year as it has in the preceding years. I suspect that, over the next 12 months or so, we may well begin to feel the impact of the recession at a much greater rate than we have in the past. It is true that we are protected to some degree because of the dominance of the public sector, but that cannot protect us from all adversities of an economic kind.
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