Page 1602 - Week 05 - Thursday, 8 May 2008
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levels in Canberra’s suburbs and shopping centres. The initiative offers $2 million for improving the amenity of public areas. Minister, you have said that this budget is a budget for the future, yet there is no outyear funding for this program. Why do shopping centres need to be swept and mowed only in an election year?
MR STANHOPE: The responsible minister is the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Mr Hargreaves. I ask him to take the question to illustrate the extent to which the government takes seriously and does fund the maintenance of shopping centres.
MR HARGREAVES: This amount of $2 million in the budget is a burst of activity—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR HARGREAVES: Ah, we have a sudden second burst of activity! They were not snores I heard over there at all. They have a sense of humour between them. What we have just had revealed—ever since Mr Mulcahy left the opposition treasury bench—is that they have a complete lack of understanding of the framework of a budget. Budgeting 1.01 is all about what the budget is made up of. For those opposite—
Mr Pratt: We love Richard all of a sudden, don’t we?
MR HARGREAVES: For those opposite and for old motormouth over there, the fact is that it is an incremental budget. Girls and boys, it is an incremental budget. From time to time we see that governments add a certain amount of money to what? To the base. This is not zero-based budgeting, students. Little girls and boys, this is not about a zero-based budget. It is $2 million on top of all the other things that we do. Let them go and have a look. Go and have a look at the past budgets. You lazy bunch of people think that I will do your work for you. I will not do it. Go and have a look at previous budgets. Have a look at BPs Nos 4 and 3 in previous years. You will see stacks of money going into playgrounds. You will see all the money provided to City West. What we see in this budget is additional funds to a very, very significant base.
Mrs Dunne: Which you are taking out in the outyears.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Dunne!
MR HARGREAVES: What have we done? Of course, we have a significant mowing budget.
Mrs Dunne: Because the outyears are after the election.
MR HARGREAVES: We have a significant parks and cleaning budget. We know that there are certain parts of the town that can do with an extra bit of money as a one-off—
Mrs Dunne: Just before the election.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Dunne!
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