Page 1416 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 24 March 2010
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Ms Gallagher would have us believe that, in around 10 years, we will have seen a doubling of demand, a doubling of prices in every area of government expenditure. It is simply not the case. Every year we have seen that money coming in, and the government, thinking that it would go on forever, spent it in such a way. You do not have to just believe us; we hear it from the Auditor-General. This goes to the heart of the clash that we are seeing— this fairly nasty, personal clash that we are starting to see—from the government ministers in relation to the Auditor-General. The Auditor-General is the independent person who actually highlights the waste in this government.
It is the Auditor-General who pointed out the massive blow-out in the costs for the ESA headquarters, for instance. The Auditor-General looks at these projects, gives recommendations about how things could be done better and more efficiently, and, for her trouble, instead of the government accepting that advice and saying, “Thank you, Auditor-General; by taking your advice, we might be able to save some money for the taxpayer, more efficiently deliver the services, lower our expenditure in that area, but still deliver the outcomes for the people,” they attack the Auditor-General.
We know why they attack the Auditor-General—they are amazingly sensitive on this issue. The Auditor-General highlights the fact that they cannot control their spending, and we see it time and time again. We have talked about the Cotter Dam blow-out, and Katy Gallagher will say that that is off the books so that is okay. But, in the end, Canberrans will pay for that. One way or another, Canberrans will pay for that, either because there will be fewer dividends coming to the government or because we will pay more for our water. We will pay for those blow-outs.
We have mentioned the Gungahlin Drive extension. Never has there been a more obviously stupid decision on an infrastructure project than the Gungahlin Drive extension—
Ms Gallagher: How many four-lane roads did you build, Brendan?
MR SESELJA: The idea—
Mr Smyth: It is half a road.
Ms Gallagher: How many four lane roads did you build?
Mr Smyth: Well, you haven’t built any four-lane roads.
MR SESELJA: —that you should build a one-lane—
Ms Gallagher: No. How many? You tell me how many. How many two-lane roads did you build? How many did you build?
Mr Smyth: You haven’t built any. That’s the whole point.
MR SESELJA: —into the growth area of Canberra—
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