Page 1876 - Week 06 - Thursday, 5 May 2005
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more than that, with the first hint of a difficult circumstance approaching, we have cries of doom and gloom. With the first hint of a problem, what did we get from this government? Panic. We had the Chief Minister running around saying that we needed higher taxes and cuts to existing programs, and we had the Treasurer crying the same message but adding that public sector jobs had to go.
This response simply demonstrates how ill-prepared this government has been to tackle the inevitable slowdown and to seek sustainability; presumably despite all the best advice it had been given. From my perspective and that of the Liberal Party, all we can say is that this is exactly what we have predicted over the last two budgets.
Let me review some key comments that we made in our budget replies in recent years. Last year I said in my reply that the 2004 budget was a budget that had squandered the opportunity to secure Canberra’s future and to show leadership. I also analysed the extraordinary increase in expending that this government had incurred to that point and commented that it was the most profligate budget in the territory’s history.
More than that, however, is what the Canberra Times had to say in its editorial comment about last year’s budget. It said that this government’s 2004-05 budget was a “budget of missed opportunities”. We are now to pay, as a community, for those opportunities lost. Let us put this in simple terms for the government. The government’s budget strategy has failed.
What did I say in 2003? I said that the government had overspent its budget estimate for 2002-03 to the tune of $233 million. That was another warning I gave this government about its inability to control its spending and about its overall budget strategy. Of course, we are only the opposition. But even now, with majority government, this still does not devalue the comments that we have made in our responses to previous budgets.
Let me summarise the failed economic performance of this government over recent years, with seven areas of failure or the seven deadly sins of unchecked government fiscal policy. The first is profligacy. This government has blown its expenditure by a staggering $685 million over four years. Yes, $166 million in the 2001-02 budget, $153 million in the 2002-03 budget, $282 million in the 2003-04 budget and $84 million in the 2004-05 budget—a failure of control over spending.
Secondly, the revenue boom. This government has not used wisely the unexpected boost of $718 million that it has received in additional revenue—a failure to husband the community’s resources. Thirdly, capital spending. This government has been unable to manage its capital budget efficiently. It has consistently and substantially underspent the capital works budget—a failure of management.
Fourthly, infrastructure. This government has apparently not considered the long-term implications of developing and funding major public assets—a failure in project assessment and evaluation. Fifthly, revenue proposals. This government has proposed a number of very inept and prospectively very inefficient and costly proposals to raise additional revenue: parking space tax, loan security tax, city heart tax—a failure of policy development.
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