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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2312 ..

Proposed expenditure-Part 9-Urban Services, $232,3346,000 (net cost of outputs), $60,876,000 (capital injection) and $4,334,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $297,546,000.

MR HARGREAVES (8.37): This budget is the entree before the main course. The rum before the beer chaser. The calm before the storm. This budget is supposed to tempt the electorate before the election-

Ms Carnell: No, no. That is the next one.

MR HARGREAVES: I pick up on the Chief Minister's interjection-"That's next year"-and I agree with it. This is phase one of the pork-barrelling we can expect for next year.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, interjections are out of order, even those of the Chief Minister, but please continue.

MR HARGREAVES: I am delighted to hear that, I can tell you, after last night's excitement. It is the government's role to deliver the budget. It is not the responsibility of the opposition to amend it. It is our responsibility and our role to play devil's advocate on the budget.

This budget contains enough sod-turning ceremonies to keep the government in the local papers for the next couple of months. The question, of course, is which sod is going to be turned. However, I am pessimistic as to whether the government's budget commitments will ever come to fruition, because it has made such long-term commitments, such as roads over five years, and housing over ten years, Mr Deputy Speaker.

The government has promised $130.4 million over five years for various road projects around the ACT. Now the majority of Canberrans would think this is wonderful, but this is what the government's media machine want them to think. But when you scratch at the surface, you discover that it is all smoke and mirrors. In 2000-2001 $2,710,000 is being spent on ACT roads. The government has said that it will commit more money in the future years, but will we ever see it happen?

For instance, Drakeford Drive is to be duplicated eventually, but I can recall that this funding appeared on DUS's capital works many years ago. I seem to recall, Mr Deputy Speaker, that your good self and Mr Osborne agitated quite loudly for that work to happen, and of course it didn't occur. It mysteriously disappeared. I'll be watching to make sure this doesn't happen again.

In the 2000 and 2001 budget, the government made the statement that there will be new penalty levels for parking and traffic infringements, which will more closely align the ACT fee structure with that of New South Wales. If we are supposed to be aligning ourselves with New South Wales, why does New South Wales have cheaper vehicle registration and compulsory third party? The government isn't rushing to bring us into alignment in this area because it knows it'd lose revenue over it.

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