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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4595 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

That is a very significant improvement on the $236m she had in her budget papers. If it is now to be less than $100m, I think it is an urgent requirement for Mrs Carnell to come back into this place next week and give us some further information on the basis on which she and the Office of Financial Management now believe that the operating result is going to be better than the $100m which she - - -

Mrs Carnell: I said it would be better than the $153m.

MR WHITECROSS: Okay; I keep forgetting that Mrs Carnell always counts the abnormal items. Are we counting the abnormal items, or are we not, Mrs Carnell?

Mrs Carnell: The consolidated result includes abnormal items, which is $153m. What I said was that our preliminary projection is that we will come in better than $153m in this financial year.

MR WHITECROSS: Mrs Carnell indicates that she expects us to come in better than $153m for this financial year, compared to the $236m in the budget. I do not know whether Mrs Carnell, in December, is able, with her crystal ball, to predict what the abnormal items will be for this financial year; but, assuming she is, that is $153m after abnormal items, since Mrs Carnell is saying that the operating loss for the 1997-98 financial year, after abnormal items, will be less than $153m.

Mrs Carnell: That is right; that is exactly what I am saying.

MR WHITECROSS: Okay; thank you for clarifying that, Mrs Carnell. I will return to my remarks. This is a significant variation in the - - -

Mrs Carnell: It is also a significant improvement.

MR WHITECROSS: Well, improvement; I am happy to use the word "improvement", Mrs Carnell. It is a significant improvement on the budget projection of $236m. On the strength of that, I think it is appropriate that the Chief Minister, next week, provide us with a statement, or a report, setting out the basis for the projection that there is going to be an improvement of $153m on the $236m; that is, an improvement of over $80m on the budget. I think all members would value some further information on how that improvement is to be achieved. I invite the Chief Minister to come back next week with that further statement, because I believe it is absolutely essential that members be kept up to date on the state of the finances in the ACT. If the Chief Minister does expect a significant improvement, then we need to see the basis of that improvement. That statement today is the first occasion on which Mrs Carnell has indicated that she expects an $80m improvement - more like a $90m improvement, by the sound of it - on the position that she put in the budget papers earlier this year.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (3.50), in reply: I have to say, as it is almost our last sitting week before the election, I would be just so pleased to come back with the information that Mr Whitecross has asked for. Again I make the point that I was pleased to hear Mr Whitecross, however grudgingly, say that it was an improvement; and it is a significant improvement. My understanding is that the information, at least at some level of detail, will be available at some stage next week. Obviously, the level of detail is not as good as in an end-of-year statement; we are talking about a forecast figure.

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