Page 2173 - Week 08 - Thursday, 10 September 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR KAINE: Well, I do. You do not have the money yet and you have not got any commitment for it. The Government has also made much of their no-borrowings policy last year. Again, this is a chimera. While we did not borrow last year, we did use up the balance of the transitional funding money from the Commonwealth - $53m - and we did consume the transition reserve set aside by the Alliance Government, an additional $25m. So we used up $78m worth of reserve money in the one year.
While we did not have to pay interest on it, as we would have had to do if we had borrowed the money, we do not have it to invest and earn interest, either. I suggest that it is more than a zero sum. It is a negative sum. That $53m from the Commonwealth was a once-only payment, a real asset that could have been used to underpin borrowings or to fund structural change with a future benefit, or even to meet emergencies over a long period. Instead, it was used to present a false image of a government in control of its budget in one year. Now it is time to pay the piper. We have another budget coming down next Tuesday and we will see whether this no-borrowings policy holds good this year. The image and the policy were both flawed, and the ACT will live to rue the day the Treasurer adopted them.
I am also concerned about the statement that deals with transfers to the Minister's Advance. Most of the amounts are being rolled over from last financial year to this current year. I have no objections in principle to that, but I am concerned to know what the roll-overs are for and why the money was not spent in the year for which it was appropriated. Is this mismanagement? Is it the inability of the Government to get things done - again? What is the justification? I know that in some cases the funds are for development projects extending over several years. I am aware, however, that some of the programs concerned with systems development have been going on for several years. I would have expected that by now there would have been more progress, in so far as I can extrapolate from the size of the roll-overs indicated in this statement. As is often the case with this Government, what is revealed is perhaps less than what is not revealed.
These financial statements indicate that, while the ACT still manages to stay on the positive side of the ledger, the economy is very flat. We have been very fortunate; the Chief Minister and Treasurer has been very fortunate. We cannot continue to rely on increased taxes and Commonwealth payments to rescue the Territory's accounts. Next year it is likely that the Grants Commission will again reduce our general revenue grant and interest rates will probably remain low, although not necessarily as low as they are today.
In bringing down its budget next week the Government must do a number of things. It must address the loss of the $53m transitional funds. You have spent them; you do not have them any more. You have to relieve the burden of taxes on business by way of payroll tax, land tax and conveyancing costs to encourage the growth of business and to encourage the creation of jobs.
Mr Berry: Just like you did. What a joke!
MR KAINE: You cannot create jobs. In fact, you are cutting down jobs, or so you claim. They must review regulations that impose costs on economic activity. The surplus should be put to immediate employment producing programs, if there is a surplus. (Extension of time granted) The surplus the Chief Minister claims should be put to immediate employment producing programs. They have to deal
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .