Page 1764 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 6 June 2006
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If anything, it is heightened. If anything, over time, our goals will be more achievable, because we will be able to do more with what we have.
And there is some exciting social policy work lying just ahead. The first steps have been taken towards the establishment of an elected indigenous body to fill the gap created by the federal government’s abolition of ATSIC.
Our child and family centres are bringing a truly cross-sectoral approach to supporting and nurturing young families.
And as part of this budget we embark on a fantastic whole-of-government intervention program that will support and case-manage indigenous youngsters at risk.
Our Labor philosophy, our Labor focus, is intact.
This is a budget that values the neighbourhood, that understands that people feel strongly about their open spaces, their footpaths, the good condition of their roads.
It is a budget that will invest $20 million over four years on road and infrastructure repairs and $500,000 restoring more than 40 hectares of drought-affected sportsgrounds to operational condition.
While the full benefits of the reforms I announce today won’t be felt this year, or even in this budget cycle, there will be some immediate impact on our finances. That is absolutely essential.
Mr Speaker, today, I not only have had the pleasure of announcing Labor’s fifth consecutive surplus—an estimated surplus of $120.5 million for 2005-06—I today announce a financial future very different to the one anticipated in the midyear review.
Under Australian accounting standards, this budget forecasts a deficit of $16.4 million in 2006-07 and $11.7 million in 2007-08, and then a rise to strong surpluses of $73.2 million and $147.4 million in 2008-09 and 2009-10 respectively. Over the four-year period of the budget, there will be an aggregate surplus of $192.5 million.
But while these figures are comforting, Mr Speaker, we all know that they do not tell the complete story.
The ACT is now alone in using the AAS as its headline budget measure.
Today, I announce that the government intends to adopt government finance statistics—GFS—as its headline budget measure, starting now.
Under GFS, the budget forecasts a deficit of $80.3 million in 2006-07 and $40.7 million in 2007-08, rising to surpluses of $18.3 million in 2008-09 and $67.7 million in 2009-10 respectively.
The new headline budget measure will provide a clear indication of the impact of the government’s policy decisions on the territory’s financial performance.
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