Page 2077 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
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It is clear that a review of Government priorities is needed, and I welcome the Government's intention to move away from across-the-board expenditure cuts in years to come.
Mr Deputy Speaker, the community will, I am sure, welcome the fact that there are no new taxes or charges being imposed on the ACT community as a result of the Government's budget. Most ratepayers will be pleased with this result. What is of some concern, however, is the average increase in residential rates of 3.7 per cent, which is an increase in real terms. This increase in residential rates flows from an increase of 0.005 per cent to 0.990 per cent in the general rate for land in the city area, where residential property values have risen on average by 3.2 per cent. Commercial valuations have fallen on average by 4.9 per cent. It appears that this increase in the residential rate is needed to ensure that rates revenue is maintained in real terms, with the increase no doubt reflecting, at least in part, the downturn in demand for new dwellings in the ACT. There will undoubtedly be those who will claim, with some justification, that domestic ratepayers are being asked increasingly to subsidise commercial ratepayers.
The reduction in real terms in recurrent outlays of 2.7 per cent on a per capita basis is matched by an expected fall in own-source revenues of 2.4 per cent in real per capita terms. In this context of reduced income and expenditure, the Government's intention to maintain services to ACT residents without increasing taxes is commendable, although there will be some key groups in the community who will say that the ACT Government could have gone further in addressing a number of significant issues if modest increases in certain taxes and charges had been imposed.
I have one major criticism of the Government's overall budget strategy, and that is the Government's decision to continue to achieve recurrent budget surpluses to pay for a significant part of capital spending. A preferred approach, to my mind, would be to fund capital works expenditure through increased borrowings, thus enabling the recurrent budget to better meet the continuing needs of the citizens of the ACT. While speaking on the capital works program it would be remiss of me not to address the fact that this year the Assembly has been presented with a final capital works program only, and that the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee has not had the opportunity to review the draft capital works program as it has in previous years. Members would be aware that this has resulted from the ACT participating in the national move to the presentation of budgets before the start of the new financial year, a change which allows all those people and organisations dependent on the Territory's budget to make their plans earlier and more effectively. As the Chief Minister said:
This reform has required significant change to the presentation of budgetary information and to the timing of Assembly scrutiny and debate.
The impact on the timing of Estimates Committee hearings and considerations is one permanent effect of this change. I would expect, however, now that the change in timing has been established, that in future years an Assembly committee once again will consider the draft capital works program, as this process is significant in the perception of openness and accountability of government.
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