Page 1936 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2011
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MR SMYTH: Yet just yesterday our Treasurer was quoted in the Canberra Times as saying, “The ACT is being asked to stand on its own two feet and we are having to do just that.” Well, surprise, surprise! “The ACT is being asked to stand on its own two feet and we are having to do just that.”
Indeed, there is nothing in this budget about standing on one’s own two feet. There is nothing in this budget about the fundamental reform which will be necessary to achieve that outcome. And there is nothing about the priorities of this government in working towards that outcome.
What is there in this budget? As my leader, Zed Seselja, just outlined, there is a major hit on the cost of living pressures being faced by Canberra families. Water, electricity, rates, rents, government taxes are all going up. It is all coming out of the pockets of families, all affecting their cost of living.
Canberra families are already struggling with higher prices for their weekly goods, extremely high rents, higher costs for services, such as childcare, water and electricity, and interest rates feeding through into mortgage repayments. Yet Canberra families are also paying the highest taxation per capita in Australia. Indeed, we are equal with the people of Western Australia and, of course, they have enormous resource riches which we do not.
Now our families are faced with even higher taxes and higher costs for services such as water and electricity. If that is not enough, the ACT Labor government is now proposing to take on another $600 million of debt. This, of course, will lead to even higher costs of living pressures as our community repays this debt through their tax revenue. I will go to more on that matter in a moment.
Mr Assistant Speaker, I now want to turn to the approach to fiscal policy which has been adopted by the Treasurer. Let me start by referring to comments which are attributed to the Treasurer in the Canberra Times of 2 May 2011, where she is quoted as saying that it is always difficult to deliver a deficit budget when the economy is performing so well. It actually must indeed be a difficult feat when the economy is performing so well to lead the people of the ACT in deficit.
The dilemma is obvious. While the ACT economy continues to perform so well it seems incongruous that the government continues to budget for deficits. The Canberra community could be forgiven for being confused about this approach to fiscal policy.
Of course, the answer to this dilemma is that the ACT Labor government has a history of budgeting for deficits at times when the local economy is booming. Indeed, this government has budgeted for deficits in eight out of 10 years—eight budget deficits out of 10 budgets that have been delivered. Yes, that is correct. Eight deficits out of 10 budgets. What is more, this government continues to budget for deficits in the three outyears—a total deficit of $249 million over the next three years.
If members want the detail of that, they simply have to go to budget table 2.1.1 for the net operating balance in the outyears. In 2012-13 it is $112 million; in 2013-14, $92 million; and in 2014-15, $43 million—a total deficit of $249 million over the next
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