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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 1949 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

It is interesting to go back to the Auditor-General's report on that underlying problem of the budget. It was the Auditor-General's report that looked at the 1995-96 operating loss and shifted it back to departments. In the initial instance, he says that most of the operating loss was associated with the Chief Minister's Department; but that is because that was the way it was being paid, not because of the way it was being distributed. It is particularly interesting to look at those results and at the way the Auditor-General redistributed those costs across the departments. The reality is that that operating loss still is the main responsibility of the Chief Minister's Department and tackling that operating loss is still the main challenge for this Government. The Government is not dealing with it particularly well in this budget, so it is going to be the main challenge for governments in the future.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (12.28): I want to answer a few of the comments that have been made. I was fascinated to hear Mr Whitecross and, I think, the Greens make a comment about this Government having no plans, no direction. As we were discussing the Chief Minister's Department, I was also interested to hear comments such as, "The approach taken in the Chief Minister's Department is, I think, indicative of this Government's whole approach". That is very true, and I would like to thank Mr Whitecross for that comment. It is indicative of this Government's whole approach. This Government's whole approach is about making central government smaller and concentrating more on service delivery. The Chief Minister's Department has reduced its budget significantly over the last couple of years. We have moved three departments into one. Our organisational structures have changed significantly and, yes, there have been some redundancies out of our central agency. I think it is a very good total approach to government to spend money on service delivery, not on administration. I am very pleased that this Assembly has seen that that is the approach this Government takes.

The other thing I was interested in was the comment about no plans. All you really need to do to see some of the plans of this Government is to open Budget Paper No. 4 at the Chief Minister's Department and look at the sorts of things the Chief Minister's Department, from a whole-of-government perspective, is in charge of and where it is doing some very good things. There are such things as the new arrangements for the Canberra Airport; the high speed rail service between Canberra and Sydney; the redevelopment of the Kingston foreshore; the establishment of the ACT as a key call centre location for the Asia-Pacific region; exploring opportunities for defence functions relocating to Canberra, including the development of Canberra as a centre of excellence in defence education; the National Museum; the upgrading to international status of the annual multicultural festival - the list goes on and on. Over the page, under Public Sector Improvement - again, something this Government has perceived to be very important - we see such things as further progressing the development of a customer-focused Public Service; an integrated asset management strategy; developing and implementing a self-insurance fund and risk coverage for the ACT. Again, the list goes on, and it does not indicate to me a government without direction or with no plans.

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