Page 1597 - Week 04 - Thursday, 7 April 2011
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Madam Assistant Speaker, we may well recall the way in which this government budgeted for the deficits at the height of the economic boom. ACT Labor governments budgeted for a succession of deficits from 2002-03 to 2006-07 when the building boom was enormous, when the federal government’s spending was enormous, when prosperity in this country was enormous. In those years they had deficits of $17 million, $69 million, $5 million and $365 million predicted.
Let me repeat it: in 2005-06 this Labor government budgeted for a deficit of $365 million at a time when the Australian and the ACT economies were booming, and then another $68 million. That was not fiscal discipline. It was simply reckless spending and to cry poor now is to forget your failures, to forget your record and to forget that you made no allowance for the future.
Was this an appropriate budget policy? Of course it was not. Was it fiscally disciplined? Of course it was not. Despite what the Chief Minister, the Treasurer and any other ministers may say, Labor failed the people of the ACT and they now pay for it through their increased costs of living.
In recent weeks we have had the latest instances of how this Labor government lacks fiscal discipline. The ACT community is well aware of the difficulties that have faced all jurisdictions in dealing with and responding to the consequences of the global economic and financial crisis.
Unfortunately for the ACT, we do not have a good record of achieving savings across our budget. In February this year the Treasurer gave us the details of the revision to the outlook for the budget for 2010-11. She was able to tell us that the estimated budget deficit for 2010-11 had been reduced from $84 million to $6 million, which on the face of it you would have to say is an outstanding achievement.
Yet this reduction in the estimated deficit of $78 million was not because of this Treasurer’s fiscal record and management. It was because we had a one-off payment from News Ltd. It was a one-off. That is the only thing. This is luck. This is not budgeting. It is as simple as that, Madam Assistant Speaker.
Moreover, what the Treasurer did not say when she released the update is also very significant. What she did not comment on was the fact that budgeted spending by this government was estimated to be five per cent above the actual level of spending in 2009-10—a five per cent increase.
Did she say that the budget update revealed that spending would now be six per cent greater than actual spending in 2009-10? No, she did not. These increases are significantly more than the rate of increase in consumer prices and are not indicative of fiscal discipline. What is the position in the outyears? There are four per cent, five per cent and four per cent increases. This is not controlling your spending. This is merrily going along hoping that something will turn up.
We were also told that there were savings to be made, that some of these savings were identified but that further savings would be required. We were told that they would be
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