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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4088 ..

MR BERRY: He said:

It is disingenuous to say that the budget has been returned to surplus a year earlier than planned.

They are the words of an economic expert, I would say. He went on:

It's not true, the reason being that there are over $100m of asset sales. And asset sales are just another form of borrowing.

Mrs Carnell: The ABS does not agree with Chessell's statement, so whom would you believe?

MR BERRY: There you go. Mrs Carnell says that not another dollar has been borrowed but somebody disagrees. Mrs Carnell says, "What would you do?". We would not do what she did and come up with this dodgy little budget stunt that she went on about on Thursday, 16 June 1994, when she spoke of ACTION reform saving $27m - - -

MR SPEAKER: Relevance! If that is June 1994, it is not relevant to this particular debate.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, you do not have to yell at me. I can hear you quite easily. We have loudspeakers. This matter was, in fact, referred to in a speech by the Minister, and I would just like to - - -

Mr De Domenico: Which Minister?

MR BERRY: I think it was you.

Mr De Domenico: When? I have not spoken.

MR BERRY: In the course of the debate the Chief Minister, when in opposition - - -

Mr De Domenico: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Mr Berry is obviously reading from a document dated 1994. I suggest that he read one that is related to this budget and that he become relevant.

MR SPEAKER: We are discussing the Appropriation Bill 1996-97, plus the Government's response to the Estimates Committee report. Will you address those, Mr Berry?

Ms Follett: On that point, Mr Speaker: You and I have had debates about the relevance of previous budget documents and previous budget statements to the budget under discussion. I believe that you have found on previous occasions that earlier budget documents are relevant.

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