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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (8 December) . . Page.. 3207 ..

Mr Corbell: Ms Carnell knows better than the head of economics at the ANU. Ms Carnell knows better than the head of EPAC. She knows better.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, on the next interjection you will be warned.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. We have had a barrage of interjections. I think it is fair to ask members to hear the Chief Minister in silence.

MR SPEAKER: I agree. I uphold the point of order.

MS CARNELL: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. The assumption that from this point in time onwards the Government will fully fund the accruing liabilities means finding more than $100m a year. In the report - I am not making this up; it is actually there on page 45 - they have simply assumed it away or assumed that we can fund it every year. True, the Government has made a commendable start towards funding its accruing liabilities in the budget with the decision to allocate an additional $40m this year and next year, rising to $50m and $70m in following years, but that is only half the accruing liability. We would have to double that to meet the Australia Institute assumption.

When you look at this in real terms, $100m a year is equivalent to doubling everybody's rates. We get about $100m in rates from people in Canberra. According to this report, we should double rates. We should find another $100m a year so that we can follow the assumption quite clearly there on page 45. Mr Speaker, this is a recipe for massive tax increases or possibly savage spending cuts. Are those opposite suggesting that we get $100m out of health, education, police and those sorts of areas? That simply is a ridiculous statement.

Right here in the report the unfunded superannuation liability has been funded on the basis of only funding the $700m, not the $100m accruing liability. We still have to find that. Here it says, quite simply, that the simplest policy - it certainly is the simplest policy - is for the Government to fully fund liabilities accruing in the future. Finding $100m a year is no problem according to this wonderful report, as those opposite describe it, into the privatisation of ACTEW. The fact that we have had this report for not much more than two hours and found a $1 billion hole shows that they cannot manage the unfunded superannuation issue. In fact, all of the little tags on my copy mark things that, at a very quick look, are wrong with the report. I think they had better go back to the drawing board.

MR HIRD: I ask a supplementary question. These geniuses opposite should do their sums. Divide $700m by 309,000 people. It does not take much to work it out.

Mr Corbell: What is the answer, Harold?

MR HIRD: You told me, Mr Speaker, you were going to throw him out next time he opened his mouth, yet he has interjected again. Can the Chief Minister confirm that under the model proposed by the Australia Institute more than $1 billion will have to be found out of the ACT budget in the coming years?

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