Page 2479 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 2013
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non-delivery. That is the opinion of the bipartisan estimates committee for 2013-14. Thank you, gentlemen!
It is amazing that we get a dissenting report with 597-odd recommendations, the majority of which are just pats on the back for the government. The dissenters commend the government for doing stuff. That is what the dissenting report is about. It is sort of the job application for the sixth minister. They are both desperate to be there; so they have patted every other minister on the back as many times as they can in a most amazing display. If it was Shakespeare, you would have to rewrite “Methinks he dost protest too much” to “Methinks he dost praise too much”.
It kind of loses any impact that it may have had as a serious document when you have so many recommendations. It just says, “The government delivers services. Let them be commended for that. The government owns roads. They should be commended for that. The government works with people. They should be commended for that.”
That is the business of government. But let us see how it went. First and foremost, it is most important that members know that a majority of members voted that this report be agreed to. Only one member voted against it. The majority of members voted on some very important recommendations. They are primarily recommendation 2, recommendation 3 and recommendation 7. Recommendation 2 states:
The Committee recommends that the ACT Government freeze its implementation of the taxation reform until the modelling of the 20 year impact on residential and commercial general rates is known.
That was accepted by the committee. Recommendation 3 states:
The Committee recommends that the Budget not be passed because of its lack of delivery, high levels of deficit and deceitful plan to massively increase commercial and residential rates.
It is in the report, Madam Speaker, that was accepted by the majority of members. And recommendation 7 states:
The Committee recommends that the Appropriation Bill debate not be brought on until such time as the Treasurer has presented an amended bill and relevant budget documents detailing the effects of the ICRC determination on the ACTEW Water dividend and balance sheet.
Again, it is in the report—the report that has been tabled and that was agreed to by the majority of members. It is a good report. It is a report that does what an estimates committee should do, which is analyse what is in the budget and come to a determination about whether or not this is a good budget for the people of the ACT, not whether it is a good budget for the government. It is not about patting people on the back.
If you read the recommendations, it is kind of like a bizarre stream of consciousness where members were just hurriedly typing throughout the entire estimates committee. Every time they heard about a different program, they typed, “I will commend the
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