Page 1940 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 6 May 2009
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investing in supporting jobs and building the productive capacity of the economy. These measures will support our local economy and assist our businesses. Indeed, that is the aim of our large infrastructure program which we announced yesterday.
In relation to the economic white paper being superseded by Capital development: towards our second century, again, strangely, Mr Smyth noted that, and got it right. We have made no secret that Capital development: towards our second century supersedes the economic white paper. We are happy to note that, as does the amendment that has been circulated by the Greens. Governments update their plans all the time. That is what every government does, and that is what they should do. There is no doubt that the economic white paper was a great success. It delivered a number of initiatives of enduring value to the ACT economy. By 2008, we had delivered on many key policies and initiatives of the economic white paper. Moreover, it was almost five years since the release of the economic white paper and we were facing vastly different economic circumstances.
New economic challenges face us, including the skills shortage, housing affordability, climate change, water security, the changing demographics of an ageing population and a more uncertain national and international economic environment. Given these changes, the ACT did what any responsible, forward-looking government would do: we reviewed our achievements and refocused our economic policies to secure our continued economic prosperity.
The government has responded prudently and in a deliberate and measured way to the downturn in the ACT economy. We are doing all that we can to support the economy in the face of the global financial crisis and the worldwide economic recession. But our economy is performing remarkably well. It has shown resilience through the unfolding of the crisis. The labour market continues to be the strongest in the country. Employment is still forecast to grow in the budget economic forecast released yesterday, and we are doing all that we can to keep it that way.
Following on from last year’s billion-dollar infrastructure program and the supplementary appropriations of earlier this year, we have this year’s budget processes, the building the future program of investment and the allocation of $274 million in capital for new projects.
I would hope that Mr Smyth would stop talking down the economy, as he does almost on a daily basis, and choose to work with the government to support the community and the economy at this time. Our budget is in deficit. We must all work together to support our economy and to engage in a conversation about how we work towards recovery.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.32): Mr Speaker, I welcome Mr Smyth’s motion as a timely reflection upon the state of the ACT budget and the ACT economy more generally. It is interesting to listen to the Treasurer run a somewhat schizophrenic defence. She spends her time saying that the ACT economy, generally speaking, is in good shape. I do not think that anyone in this place or in the wider community would deny that. That begs the question of why we are looking at seven years or more of deficits.
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