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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1621 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

on Fairbairn Park and what is happening to the material from the Acton Peninsula demolition site. Finally, we come to recommendation 12. Clearly, New South Wales is moving into a very interesting green power arrangement. There are many people in the ACT who would like to participate in that. So, we are urging the Government to work with ACTEW to develop a green power scheme in the ACT.

Before I finish, may I thank my fellow committee members. We still have a few tasks ahead of us. We have been working long and hard thus far, and I am sure that we are in for some pretty tough meetings in the months to come. May I also thank the committee's secretary and our assistants, without whose help we could not have gone through this very hasty and complex process, which we have accommodated to the needs of the Assembly's sitting pattern and about which we have yet again made the comment in the Estimates Committee report that really, for the good of all in the ACT, the Estimates Committee must be given more time. Meanwhile, my sincere thanks go to all who worked so hard in the Committee Office to ensure that we had a report ready on time for the Assembly and the Government to consider. I commend the report to the Assembly.

MR HIRD (12.04): As deputy chair of the Estimates Committee, I rise at this time to make a brief comment on the dissenting statement circulated with the Estimates Committee report under my signature and that of my colleague Mrs Littlewood. There are many positive aspects to the Estimates Committee's report. In saying that, I commend the committee's chair, Ms McRae, and the secretariat for the manner in which she and they tried to make this exercise as painless as possible for the participants. But, Mr Speaker, as indicated in the dissenting statement, I take issue with the committee's observation that the Government has made no effective effort to fix the Territory's overall financial position. The facts paint a different picture.

Mr Berry: Twenty-five per cent of an effort.

MR HIRD: Mr Speaker, I would appreciate it if Mr Berry would listen to me in silence.

MR SPEAKER: I would appreciate it, too.

MR HIRD: This Government came to office at a time when the ACT economy was being stalled by falling government revenue as a result of massive overspending by the former Labor Government. At that time, government revenue was down $15m for the year, with an estimated budget overspend of $31m identified by the various departments. The Executive budget alone was overspent by $257,000 on salaries and expenses. It was impossible to determine the extent of the Labor Government's operating loss because no data were kept by that Government, so to speak.

What this Government did find in its preparation of the 1995-96 budget was an operating loss of $349m. All we were able to determine was that Labor's operating loss was something more than that and it could not be accounted for. This Government reduced the operating loss to $232m in its first year and to $211m in its second year. That could hardly be construed as making no effective effort to fix the ACT's overall financial position. The financial position might not be as healthy as we, as a government, would like it to be; but at the end of the day the Government has to act responsibly.

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