Page 880 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
reduction in printing and stationery expenditure; a $14.4 million reduction in consultants and contractors; savings of $3.7 million in recruitment and training; advertising and marketing savings of $4.7 million; fleet management savings of $1.5 million; savings in the Land Development Agency of $1.2 million; $4.8 million in savings by extending the operating life of our ICT equipment; a $73.9 million saving in employee expenses across the territory government; and other agency savings of $46 million, leading to total savings across four years of $162 million. We also ceased nearly $20 million worth of initiatives that had come to the end of their particular term.
That is the detail of the particular savings the government has sought. We will continue our focus in those areas. Some of the transition is, for example, a move away from newspaper job advertising and consolidating the ACT government’s ad buy across the print media in order to achieve savings and efficiencies and moving to more digital advertising and the use of means of communication other than, for example, newspaper advertising.
In making those responsible savings we have sought to prioritise investment in front-line service delivery. We have seen new investment in the health system, for example—more ambulance officers, more support for people with a disability, more investment in preventive health, in mental health and in areas that have longer term paybacks in terms of reduced call on services in the longer term. Of course, those decisions do not have immediate budget impacts within the four-year forward estimates period. But I am sure there would be agreement across all parties in this place that investments in those areas will achieve longer term savings for the government.
As I said, we have ensured that continued growth in the public service is in those front-line service delivery roles. We recognise that revenues have softened somewhat across the forward estimates. With this in mind and the need to continue to provide important services to the community, we recognise the need to be restrained in the framing of the 2013-14 budget.
We will look closely at the borrowing strategy, our capital works programs, service delivery, expenditure and revenue. This may, indeed, involve some challenging decisions. However, responsible governments take a long-term view, and the government is committed to ensuring that the budget is sustainable in the long term. Reflecting this commitment, reductions in the Treasurer’s advance and government expenditure were included in the budget review.
We have already looked at our capital program, and in the mid-year review we reprofiled some capital projects and we indefinitely delayed some. Examples of that include some delay in roadworks associated with potential land release in new suburbs. As those new suburbs will not be developed in the coming years, the roadworks associated with those developments will not be required in the short term, so those projects have been cancelled. The details of those were of course in the mid-year update.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video