Page 2893 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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But how on earth did you let that happen in the first place? How on earth could your ministers be so derelict that they did not know how many people they had in their departments? They did not do regular checks to see whether we really need those extra people or not. That utterly amazes me.
For seven years I was part of a government which was trying to claw back the unholy mess we inherited in 1995. We got to the stage where we finally got into the black. That first budget was even before the GST came in. We finally took some initiatives, which cost a bit of money, for the benefit of the people of the ACT, such as the kindergarten to year 2 initiative in March 2001. You expanded it, in a better financial situation, to kindergarten to year 3. It was a good initiative.
Mr Stanhope: You did not even fund it.
MR STEFANIAK: We did. That was funded. Check your facts on that one, Chief Minister. That was funded. I say to you, “Go and check that.”
MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: Both sides of the chamber, order! It is getting a bit carried away. Carry on, Mr Stefaniak.
MR STEFANIAK: Those initiatives were done without the benefit of GST. I was around in the dying days of the Carnell government. I remember seeing some GST figures where we got an extra $30 million or $40 million. It was up to about $80 million instead of the $40 million we expected. What an absolute godsend that was. What is it now? I have seen your budget projections. Very soon you are going to be getting over $700 million of GST funding. What an absolute windfall for the territory. Despite the GST money going up, despite the federal grants going up and despite the booming economic times that the territory has, largely thanks to a very competent federal government, you have still managed to make an unholy mess of it.
It is interesting that this particular budget certainly has a big impact and a big burden on the ordinary people of the ACT. When I say “people”, I mean Mr and Mrs Charnwood out there. They would be paying rates last year of about $680; now it is up to $1,021. Battlers can ill afford that. People out in some of the boondocks around Tuggeranong are paying very, very similar rates, as are the people out at Oaks Estate. These people certainly cannot afford to pay these new taxes.
Guess what happens. Whatever discretionary income they have goes out the window. When that happens, that has a cumulative effect on creating employment in our city and on jobs for young people. The boom times cannot last forever. How are we going to be placed when the territory does come upon hard times, as it inevitably must as a result of the cycle slowing or dipping down? That is going to have a very big effect. This government has got two years to run, at least.
Mr Stanhope: Two and a bit, Bill.
MR STEFANIAK: Two and a bit years to run. God knows what mess you are going to make in the next couple of years, because you certainly have in the last four or five years. This panic budget shows that. If you had brilliantly managed the territory’s budget
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