Page 1879 - Week 06 - Thursday, 5 May 2005
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As our analysis of the current budget shows, this government has not taken into account the impact of increases in health spending or the operating costs of the prison in the outyears. There are significant instances of the way in which the ACT’s financial position could deteriorate.
Let us also consider some recent comments made by that most respected economic commentator Access Economics. In their Business Outlook, released in January 2005, Access Economics said:
The ACT is now on the wrong side of some key longer term historic trends.
Let me repeat:
The ACT is now on the wrong side of some key longer term historic trends
The outlook for the territory’s economy is not as rosy as the government would have us believe, and the independent and unbiased opinion of the territory’s auditor and the opinion of highly respected independent economic commentators support that view. The economic outlook for the ACT is starting to look less positive, and it is this government’s policies that are to blame.
The only reason this government has escaped the consequences of its own poor decisions has been the strength of both the ACT and the Australian economies over recent years. It has been able to ride on the coat-tails of a boom in revenue to promise everything and to fund everything from current revenue, even when this has meant that clearly incorrect decisions have been made. It also recognises the strength of the ACT economy that was left for the Stanhope government when it came to office in October 2001 after the former Liberal government, I might remind people, had spent many years overcoming Labor’s legacy of an operating loss of $344 million.
Where are we today? What legacy has this stunning failure of economic policy left for the ACT community? Let us take a look at this year’s budget. First, I think we should look at page 97 of budget paper No 3. Those who have it with them will see that, if the budget is not confusing enough to so many people, we have the government completely confused about whether this budget relates to 2005-06 or we are actually trapped in 2004-05, as all of that page relates to the 2004-05 budget and forward estimates—just another example of the sloppiness of this Treasurer!
What is in this budget for the ACT community? We have a continued rundown of the community’s amenity and the look of the city. We have increased rates bills, by around $100 a year on average per home. I should add that the effective rate increase typically will be higher in the outlying suburbs where there are more people on lower incomes. So much for the supposed government of compassion! It is hitting those who can least afford to pay. We have new taxes, including the city heart tax. Businesses will have to pass it on to their customers. At the same time, this government will be taxing outdoor cafes at a much higher rate. We have also a reduction in employment in the ACT public sector.
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