Page 1129 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
My most vivid memory of the Greens’ contribution to the budget was when Alan Evans, who used to run John Dawkins’s office, said to me back in the early 1990s, “Richard, this will give you the idea of their priorities. The two Greens senators up there said they would support the defence budget, which ran into billions of dollars, providing he could arrange to get a doorway carved between their two offices.” The whole of Australia’s defence budget was swinging on the vote of these two Greens senators, and that was their priority: self-interest. That is where the nation’s needs ran. They are just extraordinary. I always find it entertaining, though, to hear the Greens talk on economics.
But let me go back to the federal budget and the main stream of this discussion. The federal government provides a great many benefits to Canberra. Cuts to personal tax rates mean that Canberrans will now have more money to provide for their needs, and the expansion in the commonwealth public service in Canberra means that there will be more money coming into the territory.
On 9 May, the Chief Minister said: “The biggest other investment really is in jobs. The prospect of another 5,000 following on from the significant number of jobs last year is great for us, it’s great for the ACT economy.” I could not agree more with the Chief Minister’s sentiment. More people moving to Canberra to join the Canberra community is a great thing. These are people who will be well paid and have income to spend.
There has been some confusion about the number of additional public servants that will be coming to Canberra, though I think the Chief Minster today indicated that he has probably got across that. Although the federal budget provides for an increase of 5,244 public servants, including military personnel, many of these will be stationed outside the ACT. The Canberra Times reported on 10 May 2007 that the Public Service Commissioner, Lynelle Briggs, expected that there would be an increase of 1,000 to 2,000 Canberra-based public servants. This is still up to 2,000 people—plus, in many cases, their families—who will arrive in Canberra. These people will join the Canberra community and enjoy and contribute to the best that Canberra has to offer.
Much of the impact of the federal budget will be whatever the ACT government makes of it. There are tremendous opportunities for prosperity, but the ACT must deal properly and sensibly with these opportunities. Indeed, this was the message from the Property Council of Australia. On the release of the federal budget, they said, “The 2007—08 Federal Budget is positive for Canberra but the ACT Government will have to move quickly to take full advantage of what’s on offer.” The Chief Minister also recognised the positive effect of the federal budget when he greeted it as “a good, attractive budget for the vast majority of Australians”—you would think it was a Liberal speaking—and, as I mentioned earlier, “great for the ACT economy”.
Unfortunately, the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Mr Hargreaves—the mentor to Mr Barr, our colleague opposite—had a different view. He complained that there could be problems with infrastructure due to an influx of public servants. On Thursday, 10 May, Mr Hargreaves commented to the Canberra Times as follows:
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .