Page 2718 - Week 09 - Thursday, 25 August 1994
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Mr Lamont also had a lash at what people may or may not have said about certain contracts. The Liberal Party, for one, will continue to ask questions on anything it believes has not been done in the way it ought to have been done. People can either confirm or deny that when they are asked that question. I put Mr Lamont and the Government on notice that we will continue to ask those probing questions. Madam Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to say those few words.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure - Division 180 - City Services, $70,479,000 - agreed to.
Proposed expenditure - Division 190 - Fire and Emergency Services, $11,453,000 - agreed to.
Proposed expenditure - Division 200 - Public Works and Services, $122,541,300
MR KAINE (3.46): It is a pity Mr Lamont is not here, because he went to great lengths to say that this Government is determined to provide quality works and public services to the Territory. The expenditure this year is planned to be only about $122m, in round figures. Last year it was planned to be $137m. Based on the report card for the year that the Chief Minister tabled the other day, there was an underexpenditure on capital works of something of the order of - I do not have the paperwork in front of me - $50m. So, of the $137m we were asked to appropriate a year ago, the Government failed to spend $50m. We were told that this was a saving.
I translate that rather differently. I translate that to say that $50m worth of works and facilities that were programmed and appropriated to be delivered to the community of the ACT were not delivered. I would have regarded that as capital works that could not be completed and would be completed in this current fiscal year; but, no, the provision is $14m less than it was last year. Clearly, there is no intention to pick up the works that were not completed last year, so where did they all go? Was this $50m worth of works that the Government never intended to do in the first place - in other words, did they seek an appropriation of $50m that they never intended to spend? - or, to quote the Chief Minister, was this good management; that they saved $50m by not delivering capital works that were expected by the community? I do not know. I can assure the Chief Minister that, in the subsequent Estimates Committee processes that are to take place later to evaluate last year's results, I will be pursuing the matter very closely.
My question in connection with this year's budget is this: If they failed to deliver $50m worth of capital works last year out of a budgeted expenditure of $137m, how much are they going to short-deliver this year? Out of a projected expenditure of $122m, are we going to get only $80m, $70m, or $90m?
Mr De Domenico: Which particular projects are going to miss out?
MR KAINE: Mr De Domenico asks: Which projects are going to fall off the end? Is it going to be the enclosed oval in Tuggeranong, or is it going to be road works in Ngunnawal? What is it that is not going to be delivered?
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