Page 3505 - Week 11 - Thursday, 14 October 1993
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Mr De Domenico: Nor do you; nor does the union. Everyone is wrong, except them.
MS FOLLETT: Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am not prepared to shout over this rabble.
MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mrs Grassby): I agree, Chief Minister. Could we hear the Chief Minister in silence, please.
MS FOLLETT: The Opposition clearly does not understand the budget strategy or the best means by which the ACT public service can be restructured to a permanent and viable lower level of expenditure. At self-government we inherited a public service whose levels of expenditure were greater than can be afforded by a self-governing Territory that is obliged to reduce its expenditure to State-type levels. That fact has been recognised in every budget brought down in this Territory.
In the most recent year the reduction in Commonwealth funding has been dramatic. As I have pointed out many times, we have had a reduction of some $78m, or 19 per cent, in our major source of revenue, and that cannot be ignored. No matter how much those opposite or the Independents want to pretend that we can snatch money out of thin air, in government you have to recognise that that is just not the case. Our budget problems have not been assisted over the years by Mr Kaine's tenure as Treasurer, during which time he announced totally untargeted job cuts - cuts that, as it turned out, were unachieved. In fact, under Mr Kaine and under the Liberal Alliance Government the size of the public service grew. The size of the ACTION subsidy grew also. With the Liberals, as we heard this morning, it is not a case of "Do as I do"; it is always a case of "Do as I say". The Opposition are simply incapable of implementing their own rhetoric. Our Government has never proposed arbitrary cuts to the budget and, indeed, we have been reluctant to impose any cuts that have not been subject to extensive prior consultation, and that remains our pattern.
In this year's budget the Government did two things. Firstly, we brought down a budget that is a proper and responsible budget for the 1993-94 financial year. Again this morning we saw the attitude of those opposite towards a responsible budget. They were willing, on a whim, to wipe $26m from this Territory's revenue. That was the height of irresponsibility. I thought it was a disgraceful effort. Even when their error was pointed out to them, they did absolutely nothing to try to correct it.
We have brought down a proper and responsible budget. At the same time we have put in place the measures for a medium-term budget strategy that will show results in 1994-95 and in subsequent years. In my budget speech I foreshadowed further expenditure reductions in a range of areas which those opposite pretend to ignore. For their benefit I will outline many of these reductions again in a moment. However, the crucial point with all these measures is that they are intended to be developed during 1993-94 for implementation in 1994-95 and subsequent years. By giving managers a lead time for development, the Government is giving space for adequate consultation so that these restructures can be implemented cooperatively and effectively and we do not repeat the failures of the Liberals when they were in government.
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