Page 2303 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 5 June 2013
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I remember “fully costed”, “fully funded”. Again this was one of their criticisms, wasn’t it? They said, “All of ours are fully funded. Just ask Treasury.” But when it actually comes to it, now, the government is saying, and has said on the record, that in order to fund its priorities there are $142 million of hikes in fees and cuts to services. Again, nothing wrong with that!
The next point is this:
… the failure of the Gallagher Labor Government to manage the ACT Budget sustainably, budgeting for a deficit in excess of $340 million in the current year and borrowings to increase to approximately $3 billion over the forward estimates …
In fact, it goes up to $3.5 billion in a couple of years. So Mr Smyth is being quite generous in trying to give you the benefit of the doubt in a couple of years. So I am not sure that there is anything wrong with what Mr Smyth is saying there.
The next issue in the motion is this:
… the … inability to deliver important projects on time and on budget …
We got one from Simon Corbell. He thinks he might have one that he might, for the first time in his career, be delivering on time and on budget. But there is a long list of examples which were not on budget and not on time.
The next point is this:
… the … unwillingness to debate the ACT Budget in a public forum …
That is on the record. We have had a number of conversations with the business community. I have had a number of conversations with people at the budget breakfast; they said it was not worth going to. They said it was just a bunch of spin from the government and that without the opposition there to actually provide the alternative view it was not worth going to and they will not be going again. They were disappointed at the event, described in the media as the Labor love-in.
Mr Barr: We have got to give this bloke enough rope. Let him talk; let him talk.
MR HANSON: I think I might have got under his skin, Mr Assistant Speaker—what do you think?—as he rants and storms out of the Assembly. “Let him talk; let him talk.” I am happy to talk, happy to support Mr Smyth in his motion.
The next point is this:
… the Government’s failure to diversify the ACT economy …
That is quite true, and it is a point that Mr Smyth has made. To say he has made it quite regularly in this place I think would be an understatement.
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