Page 3000 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 14 September 1993
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These high levels of activity create jobs. In 1992-93, some 6,500 more people had jobs than in the previous year. That was a 4.4 per cent increase, compared with only a 0.2 per cent increase throughout Australia. Despite this, and because our population was increasing at an above average pace and more people were looking for jobs, the number of unemployed people actually rose. Employment growth in 1993-94 is likely to be below last year's, at a little under 3 per cent. This is a frustrating prospect and demonstrates only too clearly that getting our unemployed, especially those unemployed for long periods, back to work is a slow process. Carefully targeted assistance measures are provided in the budget to tackle the problem. The private sector now employs more than half of Canberra's work force, and the budget encourages the continued expansion of private business.
Tourism continues to perform very strongly. Visitor numbers topped one-and-a-half million in the most recent annual figures. This represents a staggering 26 per cent increase. The Canberra visitors survey estimates that these visitors spent $500m and supported employment of some 8,000 Canberrans. The Territory is also attracting new industries which can exploit the government market and the high level and standard of education and institutional research carried out here. High-tech industries such as information technology and telecommunications, although still small, have consolidated in Canberra. These developments spell out the future for our economy, and that is recognised in the Government's programs.
The ACT's population continues to grow faster than that of all States except Queensland. The annual rate of increase for the last two years has been about 1.7 per cent per annum and a similar figure is expected this year. Within that growth, the age profile is changing in a way that places demands on future government services. For 1993-94 it is predicted that the main work force age group will grow by nearly 3 per cent, while the number of aged people will grow by nearly 4 per cent. At the same time, the main school age group is expected to remain about steady in 1993-94. The changing economic and demographic scene in Canberra offers opportunities and imposes demands on government programs, on their overall size and on their focus. This budget is able to capitalise on the growth but also pursues the restructuring needed to accommodate future demands.
The 1992-93 budget was the first in the Government's three-year strategy. It set out to fulfil the goals of that strategy by protecting the services and standards delivered to the community, achieving cost reductions in important program areas, maintaining the revenue effort without imposing significant burdens on taxpayers, and avoiding unwarranted borrowings. The outcome of the 1992-93 budget met these aims handsomely. An overall deficit of $64m estimated at budget time last year was held to only $1.5m. A strong recurrent surplus of $59m funded nearly all the capital deficit, thus removing the need to borrow. Total debt was reduced by $22.3m during the year. The ACT has the lowest net public debt of any State or Territory, measured both in per capita and in absolute terms.
The budget outcome resulted partly from stronger than expected revenues. Expenditures were lower than estimated. A major part of this was the result of expenditures deferred to this year but, importantly, the capacity to fund those expenditures has also been preserved into this year.
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