Page 1215 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 11 May 1993
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As I said at the outset, Madam Speaker, we have always consulted with the community on our budget strategy, and I will certainly be continuing to do that. If you look for a moment at our record on consultation with the community you can see that we have maintained a dialogue with community groups, including, of course, the Business Council, the Trades and Labour Council, EPACT, the ACT Council of Social Service, and many other groups and individuals in the community. All of those groups and individuals do keep us informed of what their priorities are. In fact, that is the kind of input that we rely upon in keeping in touch with the community.
The Labor Government has placed very great store on its consultation with the community and I consider that that has been a hallmark of our budget development processes. I consider, as I said earlier, that our budget development has benefited greatly from that community input. That will be a significant feature of our deliberations for 1993-94. We have already conducted, for example, the householder survey, and over one in every three households has taken the opportunity to advise us of their views and priorities by filling in that survey and returning it. I have received many letters as well from people in connection with the survey. That response has far exceeded our expectations and the views of those 34,000 households will most certainly be taken into account in the budget deliberations.
Madam Speaker, the business of government is to ensure that we balance the needs of different groups and look at both the short-term and long-term outcomes. That is why we must continue to look for ways of improving efficiency in everything that we do. Mr Kaine demonstrated that he has read the Grants Commission report thoroughly, but he skipped over this little bit. The Grants Commission report does demonstrate that we have been making some major strides already. For example, our above average level of funding has been reduced by over half, from 12 per cent above the standardised level at the outset of self-government to just 4.5 per cent in 1991-92. We have managed to make those adjustments whilst maintaining services and continuing to focus on social justice issues.
Madam Speaker, the ACT Labor Government does stand on its record of responsiveness to the needs and priorities of the community, and for this reason we will continue to argue the ACT's case with the Commonwealth and we will continue to seek to minimise the harsh effects of funding reductions on our community. I am quite sure, Madam Speaker, that the whole community and this Assembly would support the Government in its negotiations with the Commonwealth in order to achieve a fair, equitable and sustainable outcome at the 1993 Premiers Conference. I would remind members that it is at the Premiers Conference that the actual division of funds occurs. This year that conference will be held in July.
In raising this issue I think that Mr Kaine has very rightly pointed to the difficulties of the Grants Commission report, but I do believe that on the issue of consultation with the community it is the Labor Government which has the record there, and it is certainly a record which we will be maintaining. We realise that real consultation involves asking people for their views. By contrast, the Liberal Party has repeatedly inflicted their views upon people and then later, if at all, sought some sort of a sham consultation process. You have only to think back
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