Page 2980 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Treasurer) (12.06): I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Treasury part of the appropriation bill. The Treasury Directorate obviously is a very important directorate for the ACT government. It performs a number of very important roles, and it does so with a relatively modest appropriation, I believe, for the work output that it actually delivers.
There are a number of priorities outlined for the Treasury over the next 12 months. Perhaps the most specific will be the tax review, and responding to that tax review when it is released. That will form a major part of the work that the Treasury Directorate will be performing over the next 12 months.
Obviously there is significant work to be done on the next budget; that process starts very soon after this year’s budget is passed by this Assembly. There is a very clear outline of the budget plan which has been developed across government, but specifically by the Treasury portfolio, to recover the ACT budget and return it to surplus as foreshadowed in the original budget plan. This does involve reaching a balanced budget by 2013-14. It does include annual savings targets over the forward estimates to make it clear how we are going to reach the budget plan targets, and reach them in a measured way.
I find it interesting that Mr Smyth has raised a number of concerns around efficiencies and how they are applied across government. We believe they are sensible. I accept that efficiency dividends can be a rather blunt instrument, but I also believe we have worked very collaboratively with government agencies in seeking to determine how savings can be met and where they should be met. We have also been prepared to reconsider those decisions, and you see that in this year’s budget, where we have had genuine concerns around the ability to achieve those savings from two agencies with the Education and Training Directorate and the Community Services Directorate. The government has been prepared to reconsider those in the light of updated financial estimates and the capacity to deal with those in any financial year. However, we do believe it is important to place pressure on agencies to constantly look at the way they provide service. We do genuinely believe that there are always opportunities to improve and streamline our service delivery processes.
In this budget we also include some savings in other areas in addition to the efficiency dividend. They are outlined clearly in the budget papers. Some of those are around travel and accommodation, printing and stationery, consultants and contractors, HR and finance, recruitment and training, electricity usage and efficiencies through the Land Development Agency—and staff savings, looking at some reductions of around 200 staff through this financial year. Again, I think those can be managed. Yes, it will put pressure on agencies when delivering their services, but again, if we are going to have the competing pressures of returning the budget to surplus, exercising fiscal restraint, the savings have to come from somewhere. I think the Liberal Party, in a rational, calm moment, would accept the need for those; in fact, I think in the past they have called for them.
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