Page 2448 - Week 09 - Thursday, 17 September 1992
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I turn now to the changes in the capital position. There is an increase in the advances from the Consolidated Fund of $889,000; a decrease in the proceeds from sales of $1,168,000; and a decrease in major capital equipment purchased of $168,000. That leaves the capital part of the account 2 per cent, or $110,000, down. A false sense of security is conveyed by those budgeted changes. In fact, the net taxpayer support for ACTION is to remain in 1992-93 at $65.9m. Table 4.3 in Budget Paper No. 2 or pages 178 and 179 of Budget Paper No. 3 prove it. This is just $66,000 better than last year, not $66m. To put this amount in terms that may be more widely understood, the $65.9m taxpayer support for ACTION represents virtually the whole of the general rate base which, according to table 8.1 on page 130 of Budget Paper No. 2, was $71.7m in 1991-92 and is projected to be $75.8m in 1992-93. I repeat, Madam Speaker: To put this amount in terms that may be more widely understood, the $65.9m taxpayer support represents virtually the whole of the general rate base. Do not forget that this payment is to be made by the ACT taxpayers on top of fares of $14.89m in 1992-93. That is the bottom line.
Just to show that we can do our homework, even though we are away, the footnotes to the main city services section Consolidated Fund table reveal that sales of taxi plates and custom number plates are what is meant by the line item "Proceeds of sale". There are to be no taxi plate sales in 1992-93, and none in forward years either, it seems. This raises a number of questions. Are more to be issued? If so, are they to be free of charge? If not, how can the burden of increasing taxi scarcity on consumers be justified? ACT forests expenditure is to rise by $1m, while revenue is increasing by $500,000. That certainly is a way to conduct a business, is it not?
What about fees? In 1992-93 fees collected for approval of building plans are to be increased 17.5 per cent. This is a very onerous increase. Other fees will be indexed 3 per cent. Overall fees will increase 27 per cent, however. In the Government Corporate Services Bureau, recurrent costs - mostly accommodation, salaries and operational expenses - are to increase 15 per cent to $48.2m. Capital costs - mostly a continuation of a major fit-out - are to increase by more than 40 per cent to $7.7m. Total appropriations are planned to rise 18 per cent. The excess of appropriations over receipts in 1992-93 is budgeted to be $53.3m, compared with $45.7m in 1992, or an increase of 17 per cent.
I turn now to public works and services. This area draws on the Consolidated Fund and has revenue from fees for services which are collected in separate accounts. Other 1991-92 initiatives reported include a review of the fleet trust account which achieved savings through a range of actions, including staff reductions. Details of this would be welcome. There are none in the budget papers. The outlook for 1992-93 includes plans for a major review of asset management services and another of the ACT fleet. Presumably, the latter will be addressing efficiency questions upon which conclusions were not reached in the 1991-92 fleet review.
The Government's intention to establish a supply and tender agency is a bit of a mystery. Pages 223 and 224 of Budget Paper No. 3 refer to this. While the report in the budget papers hints that competitive supply by ACT suppliers is intended, there is this accompanying statement:
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