Page 1399 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 9 May 2006
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MR SMYTH: Mrs Dunne reminds me so accurately of that boast: “I will build this on time and on budget.” What was the date of start of on time, on budget, Mrs Dunne?
Mr Stefaniak: 1 July 2005.
MR SMYTH: We are already late. It was meant to open on 1 July 2005. We are already a year late almost and no sight of a four-lane carriageway. These are the pressures that the government must contend with and for which they have no answer; yet they are still going to build a prison. They are still going to build what for Jon Stanhope has become a personal issue. There is a bit of pride involved here and he is not willing to put good management and the needs of all Canberrans before his urge to build this prison.
We have a problem, and this problem will be decided on budget day. This problem, I believe, will add to the bottom line. So what they are going to do is cut money out of health but still build the prison, cut money out of education but still build the prison. They are not going to put extra resources into policing, even though we are well below the national average, but they are still going to build the prison. We have got a road system that is decaying, that requires money—money is being drained into the GDE—but they are still going to build a prison. We need additional water storage, but they are going to build a prison instead. We do not have a national convention centre worthy of Canberra, Canberra the city and our home, let alone worthy of the nation’s capital, but they are still going to build the prison. The dragway has not been built, but they are still going to build a prison—and so it goes on.
There is the folly of this government having, as the Chief Minister tells us, an extra $250 million, four years of surpluses. Where has the money gone? When we left office, there were many hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unencumbered cash. Next year’s estimate is $900,000. The superschool that Mrs Dunne has worked so hard on will cost $45-odd million. We know we need at least another $100 million for the prison, so there is $145 million straight up. I understand they want to put more money into asset management. That will take it up to $200 million. But there is no money for these things, and we have been told by the Treasurer: “We’re not going to borrow. There’s no need to borrow. We’re going to fund all our promises as well.”
There are about $180 million of capital works promises, so add that on top. But we hear: “Don’t you worry about that. I’m going to stare down the deficit. I am going to conjure up the prison.” This is going to be bigger than Moses at the Red Sea: instead of parting the waves, he is just going to make it generate out of the ground.
This is the problem with the state of justice and corrective services in the ACT: there is some sort of illusion that this is all going to happen without any firm plan, any firm economic management plan, any firm building plan, to make it happen. That is the problem. This government has blown the surpluses. This government has blown the cash. This government taxes as highly as do New South Wales. We are on par with the highest taxing jurisdiction in the country, and the government have made commitments beyond their means. It is inept and poor economic management of the budget by the Treasurer. That is why we have a problem with the state of justice and corrective services in the ACT.
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