Page 2473 - Week 09 - Thursday, 17 September 1992
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Mr Berry: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I have been trying to listen to the Chief Minister's speech and I cannot hear it for the repeated interjections. I have heard repeated calls from you for order. I think it is getting to the time when these people are going to have to be disciplined if they do not behave themselves. I ask you to ensure that they are called to order.
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, I remind you of standing order 39.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I will be brief. Mr Stevenson's comments I found, again, nothing less than empty rhetoric. On the other hand, I do not remember Mr Stevenson going to the people on a strong platform of financial management, so perhaps we can forgive him for the lack of grasp of the area that he has demonstrated.
I commend the budget to the Assembly. It is a budget that is based on social justice. I believe that it spends the most money where it is most needed, and that is in the creation of jobs. It has a balance of responsible or prudent levels of borrowing combined with a balanced recurrent budget, and I believe that that is the appropriate course. Some members, and I am surprised at this, have criticised the budget as being a little on the conservative side. Madam Speaker, you will not see budgetary heroism, you will not see fiscal gymnastics, from me ever. I maintain that financial management is one of the most serious tasks any government can undertake. I certainly take it very seriously, and I will not run risks with the budget of the ACT. The people opposite who are calling upon me to do that have only to look at the experience of other States that have done that to realise what a dangerous course it is. My budget is aimed at protecting the ACT and protecting the future of the ACT. I commend it to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (6.23): Madam Speaker, pursuant to standing order 174, I move:
That the Appropriation Bill 1992-93 be referred to the Select Committee on Estimates.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
PAPER
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, I present, for your information, the 1991-92 annual report for the ACT Legislative Assembly Secretariat.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .