Page 2111 - Week 07 - Thursday, 16 June 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
There is no replacement. Some strategy! Again it bears out what Mrs Carnell has said so clearly - that the Government has no role in providing services. As far as nursing home services go, there would not be any. That is a great strategy! That is a wonderful strategy! Madam Speaker, I believe that the Liberal approach is absolutely and fatally flawed and that not only would the Canberra community be worse off in financial terms by some $117m, as I have shown, but also, in service terms, there simply would not be any in a great many of the vital areas for our community.
Mr Kaine also made some interesting remarks. Madam Speaker, both he and Mrs Carnell referred to my pursuing a high debt strategy. What a load of rubbish! In fact, Madam Speaker, the borrowings in this budget, $36m, are very modest and are well within our allowance under the Loan Council arrangements. They compare extremely favourably with Mr Kaine's own new borrowings in his 1991 budget. Mr Kaine's new borrowings were $43.4m out of a total borrowing requirement in his budget of some $87m. Madam Speaker, I have constrained that - I do not have the bankcard mentality that Mr Kaine had - and that has taken discipline.
Mr Kaine also referred to this Government's failure to reduce our costs. That is simply untrue, Mr Kaine. If you look at just one of the budget documents, one of the shorter ones - it will not tax you too much - the transition paper, you will see that in fact the Government has reduced its own outlays significantly and continuously since 1989, except for one period, and that was during 1990-91. You can see on the graph that is provided on page 9 that during the period when the Alliance Government was in charge there was in fact a blow-out. It comes to quite a peak on the graph in 1990-91. Madam Speaker, in fact our actual expenditure in 1991 was the highest to date and that was under the Alliance Government. What we saw from the Liberals in government was not only high expenditure and high borrowings but also a reduction in services. They closed a hospital and they tried to close 25 schools. If anybody needed any further proof, Mrs Carnell never said a truer word when she said that, in the Liberals' view, there is no role for government in the provision of services, and that is what you would get under the alternative strategy.
Mr De Domenico: What hyperBOLE that was! What hyperBOLE!
MS FOLLETT: It is hyPERbole, Mr De Domenico. I cannot bear to hear you say it again.
Mr De Domenico: No; I like to pronounciate things differently from you, Ms Follett.
MS FOLLETT: I am sorry, Madam Speaker; I should not respond to interjections, but I have heard that word mispronounced so often that I could not resist. Madam Speaker, as I say, the budget which I have produced is an optimistic and forward-looking budget which does protect the future of this Territory. Most sensible commentators have recognised that.
The absolute sterility of the Liberals' rhetoric on this issue is borne out by the fact that they accuse me on the one hand of having put in an election budget and on the other hand of having done nothing. You cannot have it both ways, and you have both run the dual line. Mr De Domenico, I think it was, constantly referred to doing something
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .