Page 2474 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 1993
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The only two jobs that are created in the Federal budget are one for John Button and one for Neville Wran. They are the only two jobs that I can see in the whole document. For Canberra, given the cuts in Federal jobs, we face losing, conservatively, a loss of 4,700 jobs over the next four years. That is conservatively put; that could easily be in excess of 5,000.
Mr Berry: Who worked that out?
Mr De Domenico: Winsome Hall did, this morning.
MRS CARNELL: Yes, thank you. Have you heard of her? She is one of ours, somebody we know well. I think it would be appropriate to remind the public sector unions that they were conned by the Labor Government in the Federal election to support them. Maybe they can see now that their members are paying the price of the support for the Federal Labor Government. The figures in the budget show that in this coming year we will have over half a million people in Australia on training programs for jobs that simply do not exist. The Federal Labor Government, anyway, is admitting in its budget that they do not exist.
The tax increases confirm the pre-election lies the Labor Government told to get into power. I suppose you could say: If at first you do not succeed, lie and lie again. Australians will be paying more tax, but the deficit will be bigger than ever. That is pretty hard to understand, I suspect. Maybe on the opposite side of the house they would like to explain this to us. The deficit increases from $14.6 billion to $16 billion this year. If you take into account the asset sales - something Mr Berry really loves; he is very keen on selling off the farm - and over $3.2 billion from the Reserve Bank from currency speculation - - -
Mr Berry: Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order. Just a moment ago I heard you say that you were sure that Mrs Carnell would return to some relevance in relation to the ACT. I do not hear any tendency in that direction. Perhaps you could remind her again.
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: I remind Mrs Carnell again that I am sure that she is working towards that in relation to the overall Australian deficit.
MRS CARNELL: Mr Deputy Speaker, I have just spent the last few minutes speaking about ACT figures directly. When you take into account the asset sales and the $3.2 billion from the Reserve Bank, we have a deficit closer to $21 billion. Expenditure increases by 3.9 per cent in real terms this year. There is no restraint at all, just more taxes - and that is not just for the rest of Australia; it is for the ACT as well. As for the commitment to bring down the deficit to one per cent of GDP by 1996-97, the words are now "about one per cent". This budget stretches the credibility of the claims for no new taxes. We have hikes in the name of green taxes, taxes on consumers, on businesses, on goods they are trying desperately to export, and on Australian goods that are trying to compete with imports.
This budget will increase the CPI to about 3.5 per cent through all the vicious slugs on average Australians. Under the Federal coalition's Fightback - something Ms Follett liked to talk about a lot and which, of course, was totally relevant to the ACT - there was only a 2.1 per cent price impact, not the
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