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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 1936 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

Mr Speaker, we will have more to say on individual lines in the budget; but I have to say that the persistent attacks on the Assembly's right to scrutinise this budget and the Government's consistent ignoring of Assembly reports, while allegedly agreeing in principle, are matters that ought to be of concern to all Assembly members. It is something that we should be aspiring to do better at in the future. Labor certainly does aspire to do better at it in government than this Government has done. I would urge other Assembly members to think carefully about this Government's record of agreeing in principle to Assembly committee recommendations and then doing nothing about them.

MR MOORE (11.36): In rising to speak to part 2, Mr Speaker, I would like to remind members of the Assembly of Auditor-General's Report No. 3. Report No. 3 was referred to in the Estimates Committee report and in the Government's response, at page 12, paragraphs 2.35 to 2.45, about revenue base and borrowing. The quote the Government used from the Estimates Committee report was:

"There was a concern within the committee that no effective efforts have been made to fix the ACT's overall financial position and that it is an attempt by the Government to borrow large sums of money without acknowledging that this is essentially borrowing."

I certainly share that concern. I was one of the people who expressed that concern within the committee. Mr Speaker, we then have this response from the Government:

The Government has formally responded to the Public Accounts Committee request for its position on the Auditor-General's Report No. 3 of 1997 dealing with the 1995-96 Territory Operating Loss.

My understanding - and I checked again this morning - is that at this stage the Public Accounts Committee has not made that response public; but I also understand they received it only last week, at the beginning of a sitting week. I can understand that. But I would urge the chair of that committee to make it public as soon as possible. However, the Government then goes on in its response to the Estimates Committee report to confirm that it is addressing certain problems. We are talking about problems of an operating deficit of some $280m, give or take a little. The Government's response lists certain savings. They include:

continued reductions in workers' compensation premiums as a result of improved OH&S management - - -

That is very important, but there are no level figures. I am going to ask the Chief Minister to - - -

Mrs Carnell: It is $12m this year.

MR MOORE: She indicates $12m; so, that is a saving of $12m.

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