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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2813 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

budgets better. This may require the moving of amendments during in-detail debates of a future appropriation bill, or working with the government during the budget process.

My intention is to speak generally about the budget and the budget process. Then, during the debate of the schedule later, I will spend some time scrutinising and offering suggestions on how much better the budget could have been with a little more imagination and a little more investment in the people of Canberra.

As has been said, this is a budget of narrow vision, from a bland government. They have been unwilling to take any risks to invest in people, or make any large-scale changes to the budget brought down over 12 months ago by the previous government. In fact, the only noticeable difference unearthed during the estimates process was the creation of the new department, when all the figures were changed around. There were no real changes in the outlook.

This budget still contains record high spending on capital works projects which not even the minister expects to be built. The few revenue measures are small and on the fringe. As I have said before, each minister has funded his or her pet project. The government, in its attempt to break even and present a nice set of numbers, has done so at the expense of decent levels of community services and affordable housing.

What this government must realise is that, last October, the people of Canberra went to the polls and transformed the makeup of this Assembly. We had a change of government, an increase in female members and-just as importantly-Canberrans elected a socially progressive crossbench.

The effect of these changes was most recently seen last Wednesday, during the debate around reproductive rights and freedoms. This government must look to the future and ask itself what the legacy of this fifth Assembly will be. Will it be the first Assembly to make the alleviation of poverty its primary aim? Will we be the ones who make housing more affordable for all members of the Canberra community? Will we be the first to make crime prevention and diversionary programs a priority and perhaps a solution to the need for a prison?

Perhaps the Fifth Assembly under the Labor government will be remembered for its reviews, such as investigations into education, the Kippax library, a bill of rights, or the need for school counsellors. We have not been forced to make the hard decisions with this budget-we have merely deferred them.

There is little in this budget for the environment-that is, if you do not assume that the use of the term "sustainability" is doing something real for the environment. It should be noted that we are allocating $2.4 million to dig a hole to put waste in and not spending any extra money on kerbside recycling or container deposit legislation.

However, the opposition should not be too harsh on this budget because, every time you call it a budget of no vision, I am reminded that this budget is one which implements many of the past government's commitments and only a handful of Labor election promises. It is my belief that this could have been very different. The ALP has now been in government for almost a year. They had time to develop a better budget.

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