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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 2 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 443 ..

MR QUINLAN

the Assembly, at the beginning of my speech I communicated my general position. The Government, or its Executive, is duty bound to produce the budget within their framework of policies. The Government holds the power and the Government holds the responsibility. One cannot be divested without the other. I have a couple of good little jokes here but I have no audience. I will give you a little Kipling. This is a quote from Rudyard Kipling:

Power without responsibility - the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.

The English playwright Tom Stoppard, no doubt borrowing a little from Kipling, wrote:

Responsibility without power - the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages.

Mr Speaker, I might observe that in the things we try to do to each other in this place, the harlots and the eunuchs are not much good to each other. However, what we have here is a minority government. It is conceivable that this Assembly would tend to amend, if not totally reject, the budget. Then we are possibly getting close to the fall of a government. In a minority government the government does not have the prerogative just to do what it likes within budgeting, but it still has the responsibility to bring down the budget in the first place.

Within the motion, within the agenda of the Chief Minister, I presume there are requests for some specifics. Of course, the Government did not really expect them on this day, and I guess that that is the core of the stunt - put up or shut up. At this point it is very important that we recall questions that we have raised in this place. We have asked for specifics on the Government's assets sales program and on the Government's privatisation program. The Chief Minister and her No. 2, Mr Michael Moore, and her official No. 2, Mr Gary Humphries, have all replied along the lines: "I'm not playing your rule out games". Let me repeat that: "I'm not playing your rule out games". You will forgive us if we adopt a similar position. The Chief Minister's options for being clever and caring this year appear to be limited to the following: Getting more from the Commonwealth, increasing revenue, reducing expenditure, borrowing, or running at a loss.

I will canvass some of the principles that I would employ if I were wearing the shoes of the ACT Treasurer. First, getting more from the Commonwealth. Well, to some extent this has happened recently. The Chief Minister and I were both able to announce this week that the Grants Commission had afforded the ACT a significant increase in Commonwealth funding. Let me say my that thoughts go with the Chief Minister as she attends the Premiers Conference. More power to her elbow. I do hope that this Government does push forward towards the introduction of reciprocal taxation, and reciprocal taxation that is implemented fairly. If reciprocal taxation does not eventuate then I believe there is more room to push for fairer treatment for the ACT. The Federal Parliament is our major industry. Despite the grandiose claims of growth in the private sector, in the main the growth in the private sector in the ACT has just been the outsourcing of what happens within our major industry.

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