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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2649 ..

MR KAINE (5.15): I have heard a lot of statements made in this place over the last eight years, and I think that was the worst response to a significant financial statement made by a leader of the government that I have heard from any side of the house. Once again we have seen a lacklustre performance from the Leader of the Opposition, this pretender to the chief ministership. As I said earlier today to the media, I think it is about time Mr Berry made his move. He cannot be worse than the present leader.

Mr Speaker, the reason why that response was so pathetic is that Mr Whitecross refuses to see the reality of the economic and financial circumstances of the Territory and of the Commonwealth. We cannot look at what those financial and economic circumstances are without looking at the reasons why we are in this parlous state. Mr Whitecross constantly criticises both this Government and the Howard Government on the basis that they are attacking the ACT economy. The facts are that at the Federal level for 13 years we had such irresponsible financial and economic management that we ended up with a black hole of $8 billion.

The figure is bandied about and everybody argues about whether it is or is not $8 billion; but nobody has a look at why it is $8 billion. The reason why it is $8 billion is that for 13 years the Labor Government at the Federal level spent more money than it had. It continued to create a bigger and a bigger deficit year after year. And why did it do that? It did that to lull the community into a false sense of security, along the lines that somehow or other the Federal Government had an inexhaustible and bottomless pit of money that it could spend on everything that Mr Whitecross and his cronies demanded. It did not matter what it was - more education, more welfare, more everything. The attitude was, "There is plenty of money. Whenever you make a demand, we will spend it". The net result was that after 13 years we ended up with an $8 billion deficit. If the Howard Government had not won the last election, no doubt we would be heading for a $10 billion budget deficit next year and a $12 billion one the year after that. Sooner or later you have to pay the piper for the tune.

Mr De Domenico: It would have made John Cain look like Scrooge.

MR KAINE: That is exactly right. So, we now have a responsible government at the Federal level that has taken the economic and financial circumstances under notice and is attempting to do something about them. One of the things that you have to do is reduce the expenditure side of your budget. You cannot continue to spend at the rate at which Labor governments increasingly spent over a 13-year period. Somewhere you have to start cutting your expenditure. Let us take the reduction in the capital works program. the short term, it is good policy to stop spending on those things until you have the money in the bank to buy them with. In other words, get away from the credit card philosophy, where you can spend it this year and, hopefully, you will be able to pay it back the next year. That is why the Labor Party at the Federal level was so irresponsible and that is why the Howard Government is having to take some fairly hard decisions to get our economy and our financial situation back on track.

Mr Whitecross criticised the Chief Minister for saying, "But it is good for Canberra". Yes, it is; but not this year, Mr Whitecross, because we have to make up for the 13 years of waste and deficiencies of Labor governments to get it right. But, once it is right, it will be good for the country and it will be good for the Territory.

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