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The 1995 . . Page.. 1650 ..

This budget is predicated on a market that performs the way the market analyst says that it will perform; but we all know that markets fail, and fail regularly. Even the blandest, driest of economic textbooks will have at least one chapter devoted to market failure. Even the driest of economists, when pushed, will have to admit that so-called perfect competition is only an ideal. Market failure is the norm, not an exception. Market failure is caused by externalities such as environmental pollution, unequal distribution of power, unequal information and undersupply of public goods. Many of the services that will be deemed to be uncompetitive in a market system may well provide important public services. Because the market system tabulates only individual wants, collective needs or wants are not catered for. This budget talks a lot about efficiency and service delivery. What does “efficiency” mean? Does it mean that we are efficient at polluting, efficient at getting people in and out of hospital but not too good at stopping them getting there in the first place, efficient at working 20 per cent of the population until they drop but not having enough jobs to go around?

No-one in this Assembly or any other parliament in Australia has stood up in support of French nuclear tests in the Pacific. We have shown real solidarity with our island neighbours in Tahiti about the nuclear threat. When are we going to take action to show the same level of solidarity when it comes to the effect our daily lives have on the world's environment? What are we doing to the environment on this globe? Recent reports in the media have shown the popularity of oxygen bars in larger polluted cities in China, where people go to buy fresh air. Recently, 1,230 litres of cyanide was spilt in a major river in Guyana. Within the last 12 months, Europe has experienced severe droughts and record floods. Over the last 100 years, we have destroyed millions of species on this planet. Then there is Chernobyl, rapidly disappearing rainforests, the growing ozone hole, desertification, food shortages, global warming, toxic waste - the list goes on and on.

Closer to home, a recent study states that nearly 60 per cent of New South Wales is affected by soil erosion, while the Murray-Darling river system is facing an ever-increasing salinity crisis. Greens, and I include myself here, do not lead perfect lives; nor do we pretend to have all the answers. What binds us together is a view that collectively we can change. We can stop the massive environmental degradation that is occurring right around the world. We can wind back the rampant spread of materialism. Together we can challenge the narrow economic view of the system we all live in.

What is Mrs Carnell proposing for the budget? Page 3 of The 1995-96 Budget at a glance- identifies the key budget strategies as reducing debt and returning to surplus; holding taxes and charges to no more than New South Wales levels; maintaining and improving services through efficiency gains; maintaining the Territory's high credit rating; and setting aside real provisions for future liabilities such as superannuation. These are all quite worthy economic objectives, but only part of the story of responsible government. What we do not hear about is how this Government is linking financial objectives to policy and planning. Longer-term budgetary planning is good, but where is the longer-term social and environmental plan? Where is the vision for where we will be after the next three years? We do not think this Government can be expected to have done all the work before the budget; they have not had the time. So why is this Government seeking to lock the Territory into a longer-term financial strategy before this work has been done?

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