Page 857 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 16 June 1992
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Madam Speaker, the comments made in the Chief Minister's statement make it quite clear that, as well as problems such as reducing Commonwealth grants, we have to deal with other problems such as much larger calls on government services, no doubt generated by the recession that we are currently in, lower than expected population growth, which the Territory is experiencing, and a whole host of other factors which make our position extremely difficult. Some of these factors, of course, are beyond the control of the ACT, but others are not. It is my argument, Madam Speaker, that the factors which are not beyond our control, the factors which we can influence, must be the subject of decisive and urgent government action to make sure that this Territory's long-term financial position is firmly secured. Anything less would be a grave dereliction of duty. I believe that if that action is forthcoming it will have the support not only of members of the Opposition but also of the broader community.
Given the magnitude of this task, the response that the Government needs to produce to that problem, which we will, I hope, see in the budget brought down in August or September, will be, and must be, both dynamic and innovative on a scale which perhaps the ACT is unfamiliar with. It may not be what other States are doing, and I am sure Ministers will be quick to point that out; but the fact of life is that other States are not in the position that we are in today and their requirement for urgency is not necessitated by their position. Ours certainly is.
I want to take some examples of that in a moment. I want to say, Madam Speaker, that the one thing that the people of this Territory will not forgive is excessive caution and excessive reliance on old methods of producing these results; old routes of solutions; ways which might have been well tried and true but which might not be appropriate for the ACT's present position. We need innovation, we need something dynamic, and I think, Madam Speaker, that it has to come not in some years' time but in this budget. That is the task before us all. I have to say, Madam Speaker, that this Opposition will not be cautious about that. If the Government has radical solutions to solve the ACT's problems, let them bring them forward; let us look at those things. If they are genuinely aimed at producing some answers to Canberra's problems, I assure you that they will be embraced. But I emphasise again that it is not open to the Government to take a cautious approach to this matter. Our problems are simply too large for that to occur.
I have a few suggestions which I hope will assist the Government in that process. In her statement today the Chief Minister made reference to a number of things which are impacting adversely on our budget situation. In particular, she referred to areas of education and health - areas, I might point out, which are extremely sensitive in any budget and which, of course, are very large sections of any budget and which therefore cannot escape the scrutiny of government.
She mentioned on page 8 of her statement an increase in school enrolments and a movement from private to public schools. We have to ask ourselves: What is the reason for this shift? Naturally the recession is the major factor in that. It causes people to dispense with some of their discretionary expenditure and on some occasions non-government schools are in that category. But I have to say that government policy is also one factor that impacts very heavily on the decision that parents make about their choice of school.
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