Page 2136 - Week 06 - Thursday, 7 May 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
I welcome the government’s proposal to deliver a four-year strategy for multicultural affairs in the ACT. I support many of the initiatives in the themes already identified in the draft multicultural strategy for 2009-12. While I recognise the strategy is still to be finalised, it is disappointing that there has not been funding allocated for vital community projects. With the winding up of the community inclusion funding in particular, key services will not be funded, such as those for young refugees. Where will these young people now go when they can no longer access the Multicultural Youth Services drop-in centre? We need to have a multicultural-specific youth service in the ACT.
On my electorate of Brindabella, as I have already mentioned, I am pleased to see the construction of premises for the Tuggeranong 55 Plus Club. I am disappointed that there has been no provision for major infrastructure development, particularly for a community sporting facility in Tuggeranong. I note people living on the fringes of Brindabella often get left out of transport initiatives, so I hope that the government are able to carry through with transport planning and integration as they have flagged. (Time expired.)
MR COE (Ginninderra) (5.27): I rise today to speak on the Appropriation Bill 2009-2010. This ACT budget is a classically irresponsible Labor budget that is big on deficit, big on taxes, big on fees, charges and fines. It is a budget that avoids the difficult decisions that need to be taken. Governments are not elected to sit in neutral. They are elected to take the tough decisions and ensure they meet the needs and aspirations of the community they serve.
Parliaments and governments need to react to the challenges and circumstances that confront them. It is not good enough to come into this place and say, “I’m not going to do anything about it because it is too hard.” The job will just get harder.
It is unsurprising that the Labor government has announced a disastrous budget. Even in the boom years, the Labor government could not manage its budget. During the boom years, those years in which the Labor government received some $1.6 billion above and beyond budgeted revenue, there was a budget crisis, causing the budget we had to have in 2006.
If you listened to the rhetoric of the Chief Minister just a couple of years ago, you would be very surprised indeed to learn that the ACT budget is now in the shape it is in. When handing down the 2006-07 budget, the then Treasurer, Mr Stanhope, said:
Today, I hand down a budget and announce a suite of structural changes that will put the finances of the territory on a sustainable path.
That budget was of course informed by the Strategic and functional review of the ACT public sector and services, the Costello review, which to this day the Chief Minister refuses to reveal. It has been discussed at length in this place today. The point I make today is that “sustainable” is more than two years between budget crises. It is clear that the 2006 budget in boom times resulted only in the cutting of services and increased taxes, fees and charges to pay for the waste. The waste has caught up with us again.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .