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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4104 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I am pleased to present to the Assembly the ACT Government Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 1999.

The statements have been audited by the Auditor General who has given an unqualified opinion. The statements are also in full compliance with the reporting and tabling deadlines set by the Financial Management Act 1996.

In accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, the Territory's consolidated operating result for 1998-99 includes all departments, statutory authorities and corporations owned by the ACT, as well as entities controlled by the ACT Government. To accurately reflect the financial performance of the Territory as a whole, internal transactions and balances between ACT agencies are eliminated so that only external trading of the Territory entity remains.

Excluding abnormal items, the Territory's operating loss was $131 million. This result is an improvement of $16 million from the 1997-98 operating result (before abnormals) of $147 million. It is also an improvement from the budgeted result of $149m.

This result reflects this Government's commitment to improving the Territory's financial position. It is the result of constrained expenditure growth combined with improved revenues in the form of Commonwealth Grants and a growth in the revenue base for taxes, fees and fines.

The Total Territory result after abnormal items was $175 million. This reflects the impact of abnormal items totalling $44 million. These are mainly the result of asset revaluations, which are mainly technical in nature and generally not subject to management control.

The operating result for each sector presents a similar picture. Excluding abnormal items, the General Government Sector recorded a loss of $127 million, remaining relatively steady from the 1997-98 loss of $126 million, and outperforming the budget estimate of $139 million. However, abnormal items had an impact of $35 million, resulting in a loss of $162 million.

The Public Trading Enterprise sector recorded an operating profit of $33m, $22m below last year's result, and $4m below the budgeted result after removing the effect of income tax which is not included in the actual operating results.

The Territory has maintained its net asset position above budget expectations. Total net assets held at the end of 1998-99 were $6.84 billion, which was $98 million stronger than the budgeted position, and represented only a $9 million decrease from 1997-98.

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