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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1404 ..

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (3.46): Mr Speaker, I have been puzzling for some time about the Government's approach and how the Government can be so confident in their budget strategy and why it is a good budget strategy for Canberra. It is starting to become clear to me how Mrs Carnell can argue that a budget strategy that involves reductions in ACT public servant numbers, reductions in the capital works programs and cutbacks in services can be good for Canberra. Mrs Carnell described Mr Howard's budget today as being based on getting this economy, that is the ACT economy, moving.

Mrs Carnell: No, I did not say the ACT economy; the Federal economy.

MR WHITECROSS: No, the ACT economy. Mrs Carnell has made it all clear. Mrs Carnell thinks that reducing the Public Service by 4,000 in this financial year alone and about 5,500 in the financial year just ending is a way of getting the ACT economy going.

Mrs Carnell: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: If Mr Whitecross is going to quote me, maybe he would like to say where I said that the ACT economy was helped, because I did not.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Speaker, would you suggest that she stick to the standing orders?

MR SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order; but, if you wish to make a personal explanation at the end of it, you are welcome to.

MR WHITECROSS: Mrs Carnell said it. I know she is burning now because she does not like it, but she said it. Mr Speaker, she thinks that 5,500 public servants one year and 4,000 public servants the next year off the books, off the payroll, no longer working in Canberra, is a way of getting the ACT economy moving. She thinks that wiping out whole capital works programs from the ACT economy is a good way of getting the ACT economy moving again. She thinks that cutting back on services, whether it is the after-school care Mr Wood talked about or pharmaceuticals or whatever, is visionary stuff, that this is about getting the ACT economy moving again. That explains why the ACT economy is in such trouble. Mrs Carnell thinks they are the strategies for getting the ACT economy moving again. I forgot that there is another Federal strategy: Cancel all your job creation programs; have no employment programs. The Federal Government thinks that is a good way of getting the economy moving again, and so does Mrs Carnell. It is no wonder we are in such trouble, if Mrs Carnell thinks the Federal budget is a good way of getting the ACT economy moving again.

I am going to have to talk about some of the things in the Federal budget and how I think they may affect the ACT. Before I get into that, however, I have to claim a small victory. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, of course, and in Mrs Carnell's speech today she talked about how well the Federal budget was going. We all heard Mr Costello boasting about a $3.9 billion underlying deficit, moving into surplus next financial year. Good stuff! Mrs Carnell went on:

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