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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2228 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

choose one's words carefully. I have to say that the persistent use of this figure is misleading in the extreme. It is implied that this event took place during the course of a previous government. If this government were honest it would not have made that claim.

I have a bit of a complaint to make in relation to the persistent regurgitation of this number within the media, given that the full detail of where this number came from is available. The number is an overstatement purely because of the retrospective adjustment of an abnormal item. All of the papers were sent at least to our major newspaper and I would have expected better in terms of the way this has been reported. I would have expected more of a government in terms of pure straight "honesty" in government. Can you say that?

Mr Humphries: You can say that about us, if you want to.

MR QUINLAN: There is not much chance of me saying that in relation to this particular item, Mr Humphries. This is the closest I can come to using, but not actually saying, the word "dishonest".

Mr Humphries: Well, you have actually said it.

MR QUINLAN: Sorry, I withdraw. In presenting the budget this government declared that taxpayers are significantly better off than those in New South Wales. A day or so ago the Treasurer made a pitiful bumbling effort to try to justify that claim, which is incorporated in the budget papers and has been made publicly. Again, it is misinformation because the simplistic averages that are taken give quite an incorrect indication of the relative position of the average family in the ACT versus the average family in Sydney or Melbourne.

The government makes great claim about their management of expenditures. The facts are that over the course of the Carnell government's rule, expenditures within the general government sector-that sector over which the government has direct control-have increased by more than the CPI. Yet a day or so after the budget was brought down our Chief Minister was saying they had not increased by more than the CPI. She dragged government trading enterprises into her figures even though this category is subject to considerable volatility and its complement may have changed over time. This claim was made on national television in a Press Club address.

This government makes great claim in relation to the increase in Commonwealth funding, which is really at the core of budget improvement in the ACT. But any thinking adult knows that the Grants Commission, which looks at the whole nation and is an independent commission, is hardly likely to be swayed by the personal persuasiveness of the leaders of our government at the moment. The Grants Commission conducted an objective study. We were limited to providing them with facts and figures, and I would expect nothing less of any government of any colour. The rest of the calculation is a function of the Grants Commission and their revision of the standards that they wish to apply not only to us but to the nation as a whole.

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