Page 2469 - Week 09 - Thursday, 17 September 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (6.03), in reply: Madam Speaker, I would like to thank all members for their comments. Before I begin to address those comments, I might remind members of a statement made in the ACIL report of some fame. The ACIL report stated that the Liberals are sending a contrary message to the community about their sense of fiscal responsibility. I do not know the ACIL company very well; but I would dare to suggest, Madam Speaker, that that is probably the truest statement they have ever made, because what we have had from the Liberals opposite has ranged from nothing more than empty rhetoric from their leader, Mr Kaine, to utter gobbledegook from Mrs Carnell and Mr De Domenico.
Madam Speaker, I will address in some detail the comments made by Mr Kaine, as he does purport to be the alternative Treasurer. All I can say, Madam Speaker, is that, whilst he might have acquired a better class of speech writer, and there is no doubt about that, unfortunately the content leaves a lot to be desired. On the question of reserves, which Mr Kaine addressed, Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine is simply wrong about the budget's use of reserves. It is a surprising error on his part. He has, in fact, confused the capital and recurrent budgets, and he tried to suggest that we have been using reserves to fund the ongoing services of government. That is simply not true. Madam Speaker, the recurrent budget is balanced without the use of accumulated reserves. We are, however, just to put it right, using $20.8m of reserves to help fund the capital budget. We are using reserves in that way instead of borrowing, and I think it is a good use of reserves. It does, in fact, save us $400,000 this year, and $2.4m in future years. These reserves have been built up, in large part, by the surpluses of the last two Labor budgets, in 1989 and 1991.
Just to put members' minds at rest, we are maintaining adequate reserves. Mr Kaine fulminated about our using all of our reserves, but that is not true either. We have, in fact, fully maintained the $31m in reserves that was provided by the Commonwealth at self-government, and there is also $18m from the casino premium which is earmarked for cultural facilities. We have substantial moneys also, Madam Speaker, in the superannuation trust fund. Mr Kaine is simply wrong about the use of reserves last year also. It is a matter that he ought to get some better advice on. Madam Speaker, $37m of the $53m was used, again, instead of borrowing. I cannot see how Mr Kaine can fault that. The remaining $15m funded restructuring measures, measures which were designed to save money in the longer term. Mr Kaine made a confusing comment about $25m in that last budget, and I state, Madam Speaker, that it was used to retire Commonwealth debt. Again, that is hardly a waste of money.
Mr Kaine also made comments about whether our savings will be achieved. There is no doubt in my mind that those 2 per cent savings will be achieved. I reiterate that I believe that program managers are the best people to determine where efficiencies can be made in their own programs. The Government, for our part, have examined and endorsed a quite broad range of measures that have been put forward by program managers to achieve those savings. They are, in fact, detailed in Budget Paper No. 3. Program managers have accepted ownership of these savings. I expect that they will be achieved.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .