Page 2911 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 6 August 2008
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facilities tax, to forgo $73 million. That is $195 million of budgeted forecast surpluses of $244 million. As Mr Mulcahy interjects, Mr Smyth has promised 100 acute-care beds at a cost of $63 million a year. So there you have it.
Mr Smyth: $63 million now, is it? It just keeps going up.
MR STANHOPE: $63 million a year. So you have $195 million in revenue forgone, and, just on that one promise—100 acute-care beds at a cost of $63 million—there you have it: $250 million. So the Liberal Party’s approach to fiscal responsibility is to forgo, over the four-year cycle, $195 million in revenue and, just on that one promise of 100 acute-care beds, they have pushed their expenditure, just with those three initiatives, to $250 million that will come off the bottom line over four years. Of course, we then start to count the other $200 million or so of promises that we know have been made or will be made.
Mr Smyth: On a point of order Mr Speaker: if I am to be called back to a certain bill, perhaps the Chief Minister should be called back to a certain bill, even though it is entertaining.
MR SPEAKER: I trust that the Chief Minister is commenting on the bill and the contributions that have been made so far to the debate.
MR STANHOPE: I am; that is what I am doing. There will be more of this, of course, in future, but there you have it.
Mr Smyth: There will be more.
MR STANHOPE: There will be more; there certainly will. We have, in terms of the Liberal Party’s contribution to this debate, an understanding of their attitude to the budget and to guarding the finances and the future of the ACT. We are beginning to see, slowly unravelling, the Liberal Party’s capacity to manage the budget and finances of the ACT.
Mr Mulcahy: Lack of.
MR STANHOPE: A complete lack of capacity; it is just a fly-by-night frolic, and a matter of saying what you want. I think it is relevant, in any discussion around revenue and around the attitude of the alternative government, that we do seek to understand what the implications are of the attitude and the position that they take on these issues. I acknowledge that this is Mr Mulcahy’s bill today, but the Liberal Party have indicated today that they are not supporting this bill; nor is the government.
The government is pleased to have Liberal Party support for this particular revenue measure. It is an acknowledgement by the Liberal Party that, on the fire and emergency services levy over the last two to three years, there has been nothing but hollow, shallow posturing for political purposes. When push comes to shove, the Liberal Party now acknowledge that the fire and emergency services levy is a good tax. It is a tax that they now support; it is a tax that they recognise is important to maintain the budget position of the territory. It is important in order to deliver the services that we deliver. I recall Mr Pratt, most particularly, making the explicit
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