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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2120 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

But the committee refused to accept that.

And in spite of the committee's attempted 'spin 'to the contrary, a balanced budget is not an end in itself. .... Rather, it is the means by which funds become available on a sustainable basis for higher quality services to more people.

Mr Speaker ... the committee is just plain wrong in some cases. For example ... Mr Speaker .... it claims that in the Federal Parliament there is a budget lock-up for all Non-Government members. NOT TRUE

A phone call to the office of the Minister for Finance has confirmed that Opposition Members are NOT invited to attend the Federal Budget lock-up with accredited media personnel and Government advisers.

Cross-bench Members also are not usually admitted ... but my advice is .... Mr Speaker ... that a one-off provision was made for Independent Senators Haradine and Colston to attend the 1999 Federal Budget lock-up.

Other members of the Committee could have received the same clarification with a simple phone call to any Member of the House of Representatives or the Senate ... Mr Speaker ... instead of jumping in with their own assumptions.

The amount of misinformation in the Report's reference to superannuation must be a matter of great concern to this Assembly... Mr Speaker.

The committee has obviously refused to listen to the evidence provided and is either unwilling or incapable of understanding a simple table of cash flows.

The committee's conclusions are false, misleading and unnecessary.

Since the committee has been advised by the Shadow Treasurer on these matters, it can only be assumed that he has either NO understanding of them or has chosen to be deliberately perverse in his analysis of the superannuation liability.

The fact that the committee's comments add nothing to an understanding of superannuation and misrepresent the current situation in the ACT and lead to no recommendations, is proof that the committee has nothing useful to offer on this subject.

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