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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3781 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

As a further impetus to job creation, the Carnell Government's 1996 budget will be supplemented by $487m worth of major construction projects provided for Canberra in the Federal budget. Importantly, Mr Speaker, the Government is addressing the problem of teenage unemployment with initiatives designed to stimulate business development - more than I can say for the previous Government - and to encourage job creation in the private sector. These measures include the proposed replacement of the old betterment tax with a change of use rights charge, changes to the payroll tax threshold from 1 July 1998 and a $2m business development fund to provide finance for developing small to medium business enterprises. The economic impact of corporatisation of ACT Tourism and the construction of a new visitor information centre on Northbourne Avenue is expected to be in the order of $70m a year by 1999. The Government is committed to providing training opportunities for the ACT work force, especially for young people looking for work and those still at school, for whom training for a future job is important. It is expected that 50 teaching positions in the Education Department will be filled by new graduates.

Finally, Mr Speaker, in formulating recommendations 9 and 10, some members of the Estimates Committee showed an ideological adherence to hanging onto public ownership of assets, even if that meant imposing a cost on the community in terms of lost services. Similarly, their blinkered attitude prevented them from seeing that, at times, it is better to lease than to own - and this is the time. Or it may be better to sell a low-yielding asset and convert it into cash than to go into debt. The Government's strategy this year is to reduce net assets by $24m and retire some debt. Unlike under previous governments, there will be no new borrowing. That is a fundamental point of the budget which is absolutely essential for sound economic management but which was missed by most members of the committee. However, given the enormous changes which had to be understood and digested by the committee, I think it did a reasonable job under the circumstances. In the issues which really matter, it could find no argument with the direction in which the Government is going. I would like to acknowledge my colleagues on the committee and thank them for their input. Accordingly, I commend the Estimates Committee's report to the parliament.

MS TUCKER (8.14): Mr Speaker, the Estimates Committee is a very important part of the process of scrutinising both the new budget and last year's performance. It is, as the report points out, stressful for all of those involved. I, too, would like to thank the members of the committee, and other members who popped in and out, for their generally cooperative approach. As it is so important, I look forward to working with other members over the coming months to improve the process, however. Of course, with 17 members and a tight timeframe, it will never be perfect; but I think there is room for improvement, and I will talk a little more about this at the end.

We have heard other members talk about the difficulties the Estimates Committee faced this year with the new accrual system. In fact, there have been reforms on many fronts over the past 18 months. The jury is still out for many of them; but it is worth remembering the phrase, "Any experiment which results in the cure being worse than the disease is a failure". I sincerely hope that the move from an input-based cash system to a output-based accrual system and other reforms to the system of government in the ACT will not be like this. But reform fatigue is certainly setting in.

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