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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 4 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 1067 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

The real story of this budget will mean that this family, the battlers, will pay more to live under this budget. The real story is that this family will pay $24 more on their rego for a standard sedan, or up to $124 extra for a station wagon. If they have a standard home building contents policy it will cost them some $100 more because the Government has decided to slug those who do the prudent thing and have an insurance policy. When their kids catch the bus to school, a term ticket will cost them up to $22 more - an increase of 32 per cent. If these kids happen to live, say, in Charnwood, where we do not have a school, they are in real trouble, all because the Government no longer feels the need to provide a subsidised public bus service, let alone live up to the past election promise of free school buses. Heaven help this family if they live in public housing or if they require any support from the Community Care sector, which will now be stretched beyond breaking point.

This is the type of family which is the real story of this budget. It is the type of family that the Minister for Urban Services described as an anomaly. When that Minister described those people who would be adversely affected by the new registration fee regime as anomalies, the real distinction between our side of politics and his was never more apparent than at that moment. These anomalies, Mr Speaker, are real people - people who have not just been forgotten in this budget but have been trodden upon. These anomalies are people who will find life just that much harder to live in Canberra. These anomalies are the people who have to cut back and to scrimp on their children because the car they need costs more to register.

These anomalies are those people who will be unable to afford insurance policies because of the inequitable tax imposed by the Government. These anomalies are those people who have been slugged for the last three years by the Howard Government and are now getting slugged by our own local Government, by our Chief Minister, the person who congratulated John Howard on his surplus. But, never mind, Mr Speaker. These anomalies, these real people, these families, can comfort themselves in the knowledge that this Government has found $500,000 more of their money to spend on the Feel the Power campaign, to tough out a campaign which is totally discredited. We are going to tough it through and we are going to spend money on it, whether people like it or not. I am sure that that will keep them warm at night. Mr Speaker, this budget makes life even more difficult for those who can bear no more. It is a budget that piles more hardship on those who have suffered consistently for nearly three years under the Howard Government, and there will be more to come.

Revenue, according to Government figures for the whole of the Territory, is expected to increase by $182m by 2001-02. That money has to come from somewhere, Mr Speaker, and, with expected growth in Commonwealth grants of $46m, that leaves $136m left to come from somewhere. Where will that come from? Mr Speaker, according to the Government's budget forecasts, the money comes from increasing taxes, fees, fines and user charges. If wages and salaries do not enjoy the optimistic or very optimistic growth rates incorporated into the budget, and this Government has allowed no growth in public sector employee costs, then we are going backwards. If these figures are accurate, Mr Speaker, this budget will look tame in comparison to others that will follow.

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