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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2349 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

No 13: we were told last year in that notorious financial statement of 15 October, which I am sure the Treasurer wishes he had never touched, "Labor will allow pensioners to use concessional fares on ACTION during peak periods." Funding of $480,000 a year was provided, at that time, in your draft statement. That promise appears to have been broken. In fact, the only mention in any budget document of pensioner fares is a higher charge. A higher charge for pensioner off-peak tickets. The poor pensioners thought they were getting a cut. No, it is going up!

No 14: $150,000 per annum for two aged-care liaison officers for the multicultural community was promised, but again this is not in the budget.

No 15: Labor promised to establish joint electorate offices in Woden, Gungahlin, Tuggeranong and Belconnen at a cost of $50,000 per year, but they have not delivered.

Mr Quinlan: Yes, we have.

MR HUMPHRIES: You have? It is not in the budget. Actually, that was a promise you regretted making from day one.

No 16: "We will reduce the use of external consultancies." I cannot prove, at this point in time, that the government has actually broken this promise. However, with at least 60 different reviews under way at the present time-reviews, commissions, audits, inquiries-if they have not reduced the use of consultancies, I am an Australian Democrat.

Mr Speaker, on and on they go. There were 10 extra police promised, but only seven delivered, and only three of them on the streets. There is no extra money for the Law Reform Commission, no money for Neighbourhood Watch or Belconnen JESC-and so on.

The best that could be said about this budget is that, after seven years in opposition you might be forgiven for losing the capacity to gauge what is realistically achievable in government. You could at least have the honesty, though, to admit that you have broken your promises.

Let me turn to other aspects of this budget. This is a bad budget for business and for jobs. It is a budget of taxes and attacks. Taxes on business and battlers, and attacks on business and battlers. Many of the so-called initiatives are no more than continuations or extensions of existing programs. Labor clearly has no understanding of the problems faced by business, and no interest in doing anything about them.

For example, this is what Labor's own papers say about the outcome for the next couple of years: there will be a slowdown in building activity and the property market; increasing interest rates will impact on the market; there will be a decline in property turnover over the next two years, and employment levels are not expected to grow this financial year. It is not your fault, but the fact is that, in this budget, you do not do anything to counter the effect of those downturns-not a thing.

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