Page 2473 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 1993
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The problem with the opposition parties is that, although they speak at length about difficult issues and the need to be tough, they never ever say how they would do it; they just criticise whatever is being done. There is no doubt in my mind that the Commonwealth budget that was brought down last night is a quantum improvement on what would have been the case under a Hewson government, which would have seen a wholesale dismantling of the public sector in the ACT at the same time as the imposition of a 15 per cent tax on absolutely everything that people purchased, whether in their everyday lives or in the course of their business.
MRS CARNELL (Leader of the Opposition) (3.46): I cannot help but start by thinking about what people in Australia actually voted for on 13 March. I think people in Australia voted for no increases in indirect taxation. I think they voted for no public service cuts and no public expenditure cuts, and they certainly voted for real income tax reductions. We now know what they got. Unfortunately, they got exactly what they voted against. This budget does not bring home the bacon, but it certainly does bring home a lot of porkies. There are no jobs in this budget. Ms Follett's comments are patently untrue. The current unemployment level in Australia is 10.7 per cent - - -
Ms Follett: It is 7 per cent in the ACT, and we are talking about the ACT.
MRS CARNELL: The unemployment rate projected in this budget is 10.75 per cent by the end of the year. That is the same unemployment rate as we have now, and that is possible only with a fall in the participation rate from 62.7 per cent to 62.25 per cent. So what we have is no improvement in unemployment and an actual decrease - - -
Ms Follett: On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, again I refer you to the relevance of this speaker's remarks. We are looking at the consequences for the ACT, and the fact is that Mrs Carnell has used the figures relating to Australia for unemployment, not the 7 per cent figure which is the ACT figure. She has used the figures relating to Australia for participation, not the 73 per cent participation rate we enjoy in the ACT. Accuracy is all if you are going to use figures.
Mr De Domenico: On that point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, can I quote what the Chief Minister said about unemployment. She said not three minutes ago, "The budget responds in a positive way to the continuing employment crisis". For the Chief Minister to take a point of order to prevent the Leader of the Opposition from talking about the same thing as she did is humbug, to say the least.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I question whether either of those was a point of order, but I think you have probably both made the point. I am sure that Mrs Carnell was moving to the relevancy to the ACT in relation to the Federal figures - at least I hope that that is the case.
MRS CARNELL: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I think these figures are exceedingly important. They are the figures the Federal budget is framed around. What the Federal Labor Government is saying is that there will be no more jobs in Australia as a whole and there will be more people just giving up.
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