Page 3635 - Week 08 - Friday, 24 August 2012

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Total appropriations—$2,512,195,000 (net cost of outputs), $1,158,691,000 (capital injection), $489,351,000 (payments on behalf of territory), totalling $4,191,537,000.

MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne): The question is that the total appropriations be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Ayes 11		Noes 6
Mr Barr	Mr Hargreaves	Mr Coe	Mr Smyth
Dr Bourke	Ms Hunter	Mr Doszpot
Ms Bresnan	Ms Le Couteur	Mrs Dunne
Ms Burch	Ms Porter	Mr Hanson
Mr Corbell	Mr Rattenbury	Mr Seselja
Ms Gallagher

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

Clauses 1 to 11, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Schedule 2 agreed to.

Title.

MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (4.44): Since this is the final opportunity to speak on the bill, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff at the Treasury who have done a sterling job in putting together all of the detailed elements of this budget. I would like to also thank my own personal staff. Your first budget as Treasurer is always a challenging one and I have been very ably supported by my staff through this process. So I would like to thank them.

Overall, this is an economically and socially responsible budget that supports the Canberra economy and, importantly, supports local jobs. The budget boosts front-line services, provides the infrastructure that our community deserves and expects, and it supports our economy at a time when federal spending in our city will be contracting. Importantly, it lays out a measured and responsible plan to return to surplus in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

The budget also contains nation-leading tax reforms. It has been known for some time that the territory’s taxes, like those of other states and territories, are inefficient, unsustainable and in need of reform. In this budget the government have acted. A five-year reform plan makes our tax system fairer, simpler and more efficient. The budget has maintained strong spending to support economic growth and jobs and we have rejected the approach of slash and burn to cut spending in a knee-jerk and dogmatic pursuit of austerity that would needlessly harm the territory economy.

The budget boosts spending on front-line services, with $1.3 billion allocated to Health and $909 million for Education. There is also support for the most vulnerable

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