Page 1196 - Week 04 - Thursday, 17 March 2005
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some analysis that had been done; in fact, they happened to be glib statements. I think Mr Smyth was using the term against Mr Corbell—I nearly choked at the time—that he was going for the 30-second media grab. Blow me down! If anybody in this place uses the 30-second grab off the top of his head, it has to be Mr Smyth.
There was not in the last Assembly the scenario that Mr Mulcahy set up; not at all. That was not an accurate reflection of the processes that went on in this place, because they were all over the shop. The assessment that anybody could place any confidence in the 2004 pre-election costings is a joke. In fact, I am happy to publicly invite you to come to my office. We will give you five minutes at it and you will see how awful they were. They were delayed until about 48 hours before the election, or a little more than that, because the Liberals were too scared to put them out. They knew that anybody with five minutes to spare could drive a truck through them.
In terms of drought-proofing the economy, if that is an attempt to say that we should have been strengthening our position, I counsel you to look at our balance sheet, which is stronger than it has ever been. I counsel you to look at the last assessment by Standard and Poors. I do not know whether you have ever been through it.
Mr Mulcahy: I have, and they have given you a warning in there.
MR QUINLAN: They give everybody a warning every year; they have to justify their existence. If you have ever been through it, you will know how stiff and how tough they like to be. But, despite the warnings they put out every year, they also said that the ACT economy is sufficiently strong to permit it to run a series of deficits. I reckon you could pretty well interpret that to say that it has been drought-proofed. That implies—and you must read into it—that the ACT economy, the ACT balance sheet, has the strength to survive a downturn. It is misleading to be saying that the economy has not been drought-proofed, if there were any meaning to that statement other than a quick media grab attempt.
The Chief Minister has posted warnings in relation to the upcoming budget on the concerns the states and territories have not only in relation to GST revenue and whether it will stand up, but also about whether the commonwealth will fulfil its threats. If you read the utterances of the Treasurer, the threats are that the states have to take off a certain amount of taxes, particularly for their constituency—corporate Australia—or face the consequences.
We know Mr Costello is, by nature, a bully. You do not have to be tough to be a bully. Usually it is the opposite; bullies are essentially cowards. I have to say that Mr Costello is a bully. You can see that in the way he has treated the ACT and the special revenue assistance it used to get.
Mr Mulcahy: Those are corporate regulatory functions.
MR QUINLAN: Yes, but it is funding that the other states and territories are still getting.
Mr Mulcahy: Where were ours working? I cannot find them anywhere. Where were our corporate regulatory people working?
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