Page 2571 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 2013

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Wednesday, 7 August 2013

MADAM SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne) took the chair at 10 am and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.

Budget 2013-14

MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (10.01): I move:

That the Assembly:

(1) notes:

(a) the importance of “the openness of the way we govern, encompassing transparency, participation, and collaboration”;

(b) the Select Committee on Estimates 2013-2014’s following recommendations that:

(i) 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”; and

(ii) 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 effect of the ICRC determination on the ACTEW water dividend and balance sheet”; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) release modelling of its tax reform rates increases for the next 20 years;

(b) advise the Assembly of the financial impact of the recent Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC) water and sewage price determinations on the Territory’s budget;

(d) make publicly available all documents used as a foundation to proceed with the light rail project.

This is a very important motion, and it should be a very simple debate, because I would have thought everyone in this place agreed with the Chief Minister on the new era of openness and accountability that she heralded in her first speech in this place when she became Chief Minister. Remember that she tabled the lovely coloured chart that had all the objectives in it? She used words like the importance of “the openness of the way we govern, encompassing transparency, participation and collaboration”. What we are not seeing is transparency. We are certainly not being allowed to participate, and there is certainly no collaboration in regard to these documents and this budget.

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