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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2366 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

We come to business. Again, it will be a very quick discussion, because there is not a lot in this budget for business, except for some extra taxes. Mr Quinlan, in one of the addresses I have heard him make in the last couple of days, said that we are coming off a peak. We heard earlier today three or four fine quotes from the Leader of the Opposition about the government's expectation of a softening in the housing and construction industry and no jobs growth. The government stand condemned for that. Knowing that, they have made no allowance. There is no plan. There is nothing in this budget that would indicate that they are taking seriously their responsibility to foster jobs growth in the ACT.

They will point to the economic white paper and say, "We have started on the economic white paper. We will get a draft, then we will get another draft, then we will have some consultation, and maybe some time next year we will actually get an economic white paper." But what happens to the people of the ACT between now and that time? According to this government, you are on your own. They will not do anything until they have completed that review.

There is some money for the ICT Centre of Excellence and that is welcome. The $20 million breaks down into $10 million of land, which is revenue forgone rather than cash given over; some payroll tax exemptions, estimated at $5 million; and up to $5 million direct assistance, the bulk of which probably will come in 2006-07. The government is supportive of the ICT centre, as we all are, but there is just a single announcement. The rest of it is rebadging of programs that existed under the previous government.

Health is very important to all Canberrans. Mr Stanhope, when cornered on a question he cannot answer, resorts to his pat line: "We were elected to improve education and health." I want to point out a few things in the health budget. The government promised $1 million for respite care, and it is there. Well done, Chief Minister. They promised $1 million for disability services. There is $2.5 million in the budget. Well done. They promised an extra $1 million for mental health. There is $1.3 million in the budget for this year. Congratulations. The strength of the budget position we left them enables them to fund these promises.

But we need to make some comparisons. Budget at a glance for last year shows that disability services received $2 million under the previous Liberal government. It is a sector we acknowledged and in which we were building up capacity. Because of the strong position the Treasurer found himself in, the government can fund $2.5 million this year. That is good.

Mental health has picked up $1.3 million this year. My quick adding up of some of the programs in the press releases last year suggests that there is something like $1.6 million of additional funding in the current year's budget for mental health. Yes, the government has done well, but remember that we were putting money towards these issues to build up capacity.

Something that appears in the budget at last is the step-down facility, except that now it is called a convalescent care facility. I saw a report that said that this will provide six beds. The money is certainly less than we had in the budget. We had $1.5 million for this

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