Page 1398 - Week 04 - Thursday, 26 March 2009
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The Treasurer and the Under-Treasurer said in the hearings that based on the latest update, in fact we are in surplus. If we are just going to have that sort of silliness go on at what is an important time and a very distressing time for many people, I think it behoves the Treasurer to update the Assembly regularly on the state of the ACT budget. It used to be done monthly in this place. I do not see that it cannot be done monthly again given the circumstances. I turn to the other recommendations. Recommendation 9 states:
The committee recommends that the Treasurer provide … an update by the last sitting day in June—
That is agreed to; so we look forward to the update. Maybe then we will find out how many jobs have been saved. But it is just typical of this Treasurer who is clueless on the job. It is so typical of this Treasurer who cannot answer the questions and has struggled since she took the office of Treasurer. It is so typical of this government to treat the committee system, and through the committee system this place, with the contempt that it does. It would appear that they have not at this stage learnt the lesson that they are no longer a majority government.
Madam Deputy Speaker, that being said, there is $12.5 million, as the Treasurer said, to get out the door this year. I think we all know that there is a slowdown. I think we all know that the building industry would welcome additional funding, and with that in mind we will be supporting the appropriation.
But I do make the point again, as the committee made the point, that there are more sectors out there than just the building industry and the fact is that the government has not been able to come to grips with that. Here we have the federal government and, indeed, this government in December saying that we need a stimulus package; we need mini-budgets; we need more approp bills. But apart from the building sector, every other part of the economy and every other person that is employed in a job in a sector that is under stress has to wait until the budget has dropped in May, the estimates occur and the budget is in theory then passed in June. Everyone will have to wait that long before they see some effect of the budget. We are talking six, seven, eight months. I think what it shows absolutely quite clearly is that the Treasurer is clueless.
Just to show how clueless the Treasurer is, it was quite clear in her answers on Tuesday when she said she was not aware of anyone who is affected by the downturn—business or household; no impacts. I just want to read from the ACTCOSS submission:
The financial crisis has and will continue to have disproportionate impacts on people in the ACT experiencing disadvantage. ACTCOSS research shows that one in ten ACT residents are already suffering multiple deprivations and missing out on essential items for living. Financial counselling services are already reporting an increase in demand on their services, as more people fall behind on their mortgages or rental payments and experience financial stress. Financial stress can lead to a range of other health and mental health related conditions.
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