Page 185 - Week 01 - Thursday, 9 April 1992
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messing up the place, the trends were all in the wrong direction; we were trending to chaos. We have it back on track and are heading in the right direction, and we will continue to achieve reforms.
Let us look at recurrent expenditure. It is a pity that Mr Kaine has been called away, because he is the one who is always on about Labor being big spending. Recurrent expenditure in ACTION increased from the period of the first Labor Government, from the 1989-90 year, to the 1990-91 year, the year of this report, by $7.5m. This is the efficient Liberal Government! There was a $7.5m increase in expenditure. Under the Labor Government it is down $2m. We still, unfortunately, have not got it back to the level it was at under the first Labor Government - we are still cleaning out the stables that you left - but it is on track; it is in the right direction. On every indicator, and I am really looking forward to tabling next year's annual report, we are heading in the right direction. You people in government were unable to cope; you were unable to manage.
That is the joke about the ACT Liberal Party. They claim to be a party of management and on every test - Mr Berry's within the hospital system, here within the bus system - they are failing. You are not managers. We see how you manage your own internal affairs. You cannot manage public administration and you cannot even understand an annual report, because you are getting excited about what this annual report shows during the period that you were in government. It is just absurd.
Let us see what else we have achieved, not are going to achieve. During the past 12 months we have introduced a significant number of new ACTION services into Tuggeranong, and additional express services. These were introduced not only without additional resources but also in the context of reducing the resources provided to ACTION by some $2m. We are bringing back that recurrent expenditure by some $2m, from its peak under the Liberals, and we are providing new services. Included amongst those new and innovative services is the free Downtowner Civic Circle bus service, which my advisers note was used by a political party for its launch of its transport policy. I wonder who that could have been.
Mr De Domenico: It was us, and we were the only ones on it, Mr Connolly, let me tell you.
MR CONNOLLY: So, there you go. Nobody would have wanted to get on, with a bunch of Liberal politicians launching a policy. I am not surprised. Who would?
Mr De Domenico: In fact, they would have cancelled the thing had we not been there waiting to get on the thing.
MR CONNOLLY: If you look out on any given day, you will see that that is a very widely patronised service, introduced - - -
Mr De Domenico: No.
MR CONNOLLY: Mr De Domenico is going to scrap it, I suppose. Is he? I will be pleased to tell the public that. It was introduced in the context of a declining recurrent ACTION budget, introduced in the context of a Labor Government achieving real savings by sensibly getting on and negotiating change, negotiating reform. What else are we going to do? We have achieved our reduction in staff,
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