Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (21 June) . . Page.. 2371 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

We did not see Ted lean over and tap John on the shoulder politely and, say, "It does not matter now, John. It is a promise that has reached its use-by date. It is okay, you do not have to jibe at this now." So what we have is this contrary situation where they will pick and choose the opportunities to use whatever it is they can use to try to run the government down. That is all they have done in six years.

Why is the money here now ? It is here because we have done well in reforming the ACT and putting it back on the rails to financial sustainability, after it was so heavily derailed by the previous Labor government. Now, the point here is that they are saying, "We will take this money and we will spend it on education, because education is important." Of course, education is important. We think education is important.

How do we show that we know education is important? With the $91 million in the proposed budget that will be expended on education over the next four years, and that includes $40 million worth of new initiatives which, according to the other side, do not count or do not rate. I challenged Mr Stanhope yesterday to tell us which of these education initiatives are ill informed so that they could be stopped: not a murmur, not a whisper.

We have put an extra $91 million over the next four years into education, for which we receive no credit from those opposite, and why? Because, over the last six years, all they have done is denigrate our efforts to make up for their mistakes and to build a better ACT. I guess I would run them down too, if our positions were reversed, because I-and they-know that, based on their record, the public do not believe that they have any financial credibility.

So it is well and good to hear Mr Quinlan say that there is money lying around because the Treasury staff are so untidy, and they leave it all over the place in piles. But it is not lying around: its availability has been created by this government's good financial management.

Now, we had the bleating from Mr Hargreaves to open the batting, and that is all it was, bleating. There was a line about: "Why is it happening now? It is five years too late." Well, it is five years too late because it took five years to make up for the mess that your party left when they were in office, Mr Hargreaves. Mr Hargreaves characterises what we have done as a shopping spree, and says that the government won the lottery. It is lucky. You buy lottery tickets. That is how they will run a Treasury: you buy lottery tickets and occasionally one will come home and then you get to spend the money.

There is no management here, no policy, no budgeting, no accrual accounting, no six years of hard work: you buy lottery tickets, join the Labor lottery. This is great. When they win government in October-and we know they are going to win government because Wayne told us, saying. "When we occupy the Treasury benches after the next election." There they are again, taking the votes of Canberrans for granted. Labor are going to occupy the Treasury benches, and then Mr Quinlan is going to buy more of these mysterious lottery tickets that you buy so you can go on spending sprees. Nothing about hard work here. It is all about the lottery.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .