Page 816 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 16 June 1992
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for our Territory's future. From these many elements we have drawn together a strategy which implements our agenda, which will tackle the community's social justice needs and which progresses our program of structural reform.
Madam Speaker, I would like to report first on the Premiers Conference. As I told the community before the conference began, the Commonwealth's offer to the ACT was harsher than anticipated and did not adequately recognise our transitional status. I made these points strongly to the Prime Minister and I welcome the increase of $5m on the Commonwealth's initial offer. It nevertheless leaves us with an extremely difficult financial adjustment to make in the coming budget. We have to cope with a 6.5 per cent real decrease in general revenue funding from the Commonwealth. The other States and the Northern Territory have been given a real increase in funding, yet the ACT is expected to live with $16m less than last year.
We must also bear in mind that the Commonwealth's treatment of us for 1992-93 is probably no worse than we will face in the next few years. Successive reviews by the Commonwealth Grants Commission have indicated that we have a substantial adjustment to make. As each year passes, the ACT Government must continue to adjust the pre-self-government policies and programs of the Commonwealth and their legacy of unsustainably high costs. The Commonwealth will continue to reduce its payment to the ACT to levels more in line with the States and the Northern Territory. The transitional allowances, whilst still underpinning our funding by nearly $80m, will be phased out over future years.
Our task has not been made easier by the Commonwealth imposing additional costs on the States and Territories without any additional funding capacity. While this Government supports the principle of universal superannuation, the Commonwealth's proposal for the superannuation guarantee levy would require the ACT to find an additional $2m in 1992-93, growing to $10m over the next decade. Madam Speaker, it was agreed by Premiers and Chief Ministers around the conference table last Friday that the national health funding arrangements were placing enormous strains on our budgets. The Commonwealth has yet to propose any real solution to help us cope with this increasing burden. Before I leave the subject of the Premiers Conference, Madam Speaker, I would like to report that at the associated Loan Council meeting it was agreed that the ACT, together with the Northern Territory, should become full members of that council. This is a further recognition of our self-governing status.
In developing our budget strategy we have assessed national and local economic conditions and the outlook over the next few years. Throughout the national recession the ACT economy has performed better than the States and the Northern Territory. In recent months, however, it has become increasingly evident that the ACT is experiencing some delayed effects of that recession. Nevertheless, many sectors continue to perform well, supported by a high underlying rate of population growth.
The fastest growing area of the ACT economy has been the housing sector, followed by the retail trades sector. Activity in the tourism and related industries has also recorded improvements, with occupancy rates increasing over this period. Non-residential building activity, while improving in recent months, remains below the high levels recorded in previous years. There has been a slowdown in the private sector which has stopped any overall growth in ACT
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