Page 2043 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 June 1993
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But of course it is not the fault of the Follett Labor Government, which has consistently failed to confront the reality of our situation, which has seen an increase in the public sector payroll, which has consistently failed to contain budget blowouts, which has consistently avoided the imperative of restructuring the organisations of government to achieve major reductions in the cost of government, which has as a matter of policy consumed every available reserve dollar as the easy way out of budget shortfalls - $53m in reserve transitional funds from the Commonwealth, the $25m transitional reserve created by the Alliance Government, $20m-plus a year from ACTEW - and which by restructuring ACTTAB will get its hands on the $20m of reserves accumulated by that body, presumably to help it solve its 1993-94 budgetary shortfall.
It is no wonder that the Minister is in such a heck of a hurry to get it done. There is $20m there and that will go a long way to filling the budget gap, will it not? The Government has a clearly documented history of consuming such reserves in the short-term interest, without regard to tomorrow. Tomorrow has now arrived and the piper has to be paid. I do not believe that the ACT community is going to applaud the Government when they finally discover the price that has to be paid and who is going to have to pay it. It is the taxpayer out there who will have to pay, and we have already seen the first signs of that in what the Chief Minister said two days ago.
Madam Speaker, I said that the Chief Minister's speech is an attempt to prepare the community for the worst without really telling them what the worst is or what the Government really intends to do about it. It is full of suggestive imagining. I will quote just a few. She said, "We must make budgetary decisions that ensure that we do not get out of our depth". Like what? What sorts of budgetary decisions? Give us a few examples of the budgetary decisions the Chief Minister intends to make to make sure that we do not get out of our depth. She is long on rhetoric but dead short on positive statements about what is to be done. Next, she said, "The forward estimates outlook has significantly deteriorated". Has it? How has it? To what degree has it, and why has it? The Chief Minister does not explain any of that. We are supposed to take on faith that the forward estimates outlook has significantly deteriorated. The average person would not know what that means anyway.
Ms Follett: I hope that you would.
MR KAINE: I do, but I would like you to tell me how, what and why. But you have not. As usual, you do not tell us anything. You do not tell the community anything. The third point is: After talking about same-money guarantees, you said, "This same-money guarantee has not been afforded to the ACT". What is the effect of that? If it has not been given to us, what is the result? What is its impact on the budget and what does the Chief Minister intend to do about it? That is the bit that is missing. The next one is: "There is broad recognition of the enormity of the financial hurdles". That is actually attributed to our peak community groups, with whom she claims to have consulted. What is the enormity of the financial hurdles that we have to jump? Why not tell the wider community? Why just discuss it with half a dozen selected people who happen to be executives of peak organisations? Talk about community consultation! This is not community consultation. This community consultation bit is a one-way street anyway - and I will come to that in a minute.
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