Page 2829 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 2013
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Let us get the full picture here. Supply is not being blocked. The government is not about to run out of money. It can continue its projects in accordance with the principles laid out in the Financial Management Act, and things will pretty much continue as they are. We are simply saying that it is negligent to bring this debate on today when we do not have the full information. If those opposite are happy to do so, good luck to them: people will know them for what they are—people who do not stand up for openness, transparency and accountability.
Remember that the Chief Minister in her first speech laid out her brand-new era of openness and accountability. She said that as a government they would be about “transparency, participation and collaboration”. There is no transparency in this budget, in these budget outcomes we are dealing with today. We do not know what the full effect of the tax reforms are on rates. It is quite clear that they triple over the next 11 years. The Treasurer said in estimates, “I have done the numbers,” but he refuses to reveal them.
It is about participation. It is impossible for those of us who do not have the full story to participate fully in this debate today. We should have the full story. In many ways this is the most important bill of the year. It is the bill that gives the government the finances to continue their agenda. They are entitled to supply or they should go. We are not blocking supply. The government will continue if this debate is put off for a month. It will continue as per the rules, the rules which I suspect the Treasurer has broken by bringing this debate on today.
The Chief Minister talked about collaboration—collaboration, working together. Well, let us work together. Here is a test for you, Chief Minister. You can stand up when I finish and adjourn the debate. You can stand up and adjourn the budget debate until such time as we have got the full picture. That would be collaboration. Instead, you are ramming it through, for God only knows what reason. What are you trying to hide?
Last week, the Treasurer said that in some cases the revenues have gone up from the GST. The net result may be a better outcome. We are not worried by that. We would look at that and say: “Okay, you have got some more GST revenue. That offsets what has happened to ACTEW.” Fantastic. That would be a good outcome. When the pre-election update comes out today, we may see a difference in revenues. We do not know. But what we do know is that we do not have the full story today; and pushing this debate through today, in contradiction of the code of transparency, participation and collaboration as set out by the Chief Minister, is not the way that it should be done.
As I have said, we deserve full, accurate and timely disclosure of the financial information about the activities of the government and its agencies. If we do not have that, we should all vote against this bill today, and we should all vote in favour of no confidence in a Treasurer who seeks not to comply with the law.
This motion is moved because of the sheer negligence of the Treasurer in not doing his job and expecting that we, as members of this place, will acquiesce and just say,
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