Page 2102 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Madam Speaker, Rosemary Follett's fifth budget in this place is a bread and circus budget. It seeks to buy votes with money the Territory really does not have. It is the sort of budget that makes informed observers quite cynical about politics and politicians. Ms Szuty, in her budget comments, listed the many give-aways in this budget. Anybody who sees budgets as being about which interest group or constituency gets what would be very thrilled because in this budget a bit of honey falls in almost everybody's mouth. But I see budgets differently. I see them as being about putting our house in order in the longer term. It is about strengthening our Territory's viability. It is about putting us in a position relative to other communities which is strong and competitive. It is about having something put away for a rainy day. That rainy day, unfortunately, is very imminent, when Commonwealth funding to this Territory dips to the same level as that of other States.
The problem with this Government's approach is that it is two years of famine and then one year of feast. It says to the electors, "We are sorry about the last two years; but here are some goodies to say that we are sorry about what happened before, and you can trust us to be good guys in the future. So, vote for us next year and we will do it all again in the next three years".
Mr De Domenico: "Trust me; I am a Labor politician".
MR HUMPHRIES: Indeed, "Trust me; I am a Labor politician". That is what it is all about. People are expected to forget about the attempts to cut teacher numbers, the cuts to policing, the longer hospital waiting lists and all those things which have characterised Rosemary Follett's Government over the last three years. "Put all that to one side", we are told, "and just go into the polling booth and vote for us one more time".
Mr Lamont told this place that all the pundits had given the Follett Government a wonderful 10 out of 10 for its achievement in this budget. First of all, let me say that this is the Government that said yesterday that the Pearce report had given Mr Berry a clean bill of health. They said that everything they had done with the VITAB contract had been wonderful. So we have to mistrust somewhat their reading of simple documents put in front of them. Putting that to one side, I recall the comments made yesterday by an economist from Access Economics, David Chessell, who said that the major - - -
Mr Connolly: I think he said seven or eight out of 10, which is not bad for a Liberal Party think-tank.
MR HUMPHRIES: He did give it that score, Mr Connolly; but he said that the major drawback about this budget is that it does not advance the Territory's long-term position. Our debt is not reduced; in fact, it is increased under this budget. Spending is not significantly trimmed and the revenue position is basically unchanged. In other words, there is no investing in the future, notwithstanding the slogan introduced at the time of this budget. There is no investment in the future. It is about short-term give-aways, lollies for the children, and making sure that the big problems that face our Territory are going to be met tomorrow, at some other time, and not in the life of this Assembly. That, Madam Speaker, is irresponsible. It is focusing on next February exclusively. The day of reckoning which looms ever closer is simply not being addressed until after 18 February next year.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .