Page 2832 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 13 August 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
budgets”, part 2, division 2.1, section 11(6)(f) in relation to principles of responsible fiscal management. I will read it one last time: the budget must give “full, accurate and timely disclosure”. We do not have full disclosure. We do not have accurate disclosure. We do not have timely disclosure.
The insistence today that this be rammed through in this way has only one conclusion: that the minister is not up to the job. The minister should go. I urge all members to vote for this motion of no confidence in this Treasurer, who breaches the Financial Management Act.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Community Services) (11.09): What a sad, pathetic little effort that was. That would be the most absurd no-confidence motion ever brought to this Assembly. What an absurd motion. Clearly the opposition is embarrassed by their pathetic performance during the estimates committee and their third-rate estimates committee report, and they are simply relitigating the same issues we debated last Wednesday and last Tuesday. It is the same old, same old from the opposition—nothing new to contribute. You could predict the opposition would oppose the budget because they oppose the government's policy direction. I can say with confidence now that the opposition will oppose this budget, next year's budget, the budget the year after and the fourth budget of this parliamentary term. It is entirely predictable.
The only thing that is perhaps a little unexpected in this no-confidence motion today is that it was moved by the third in line—the demoted former deputy leader—and not by the Leader of the Opposition himself. He clearly lacks the ticker and lacks the leadership to bring forward this motion. He was the chair of the estimates committee. He is the one who so passionately believes in his own partisan report, but clearly not enough to move this motion today. The opposition are embarrassed the government has produced a budget that delivers for Canberrans. They are embarrassed we have a clear path to surplus and that we are delivering high quality services to the people of the ACT.
This is a budget that delivers on the key national reforms—the national education reform agreement and the national disability care reform agreement—which the Liberal Party have opposed. But in the heat of the federal election campaign we see the backflips coming thick and fast from the Liberal Party. We are delivering DisabilityCare Australia in the ACT through this budget. It is an important measure that delivers for the most vulnerable in our community, and those opposite want to delay its implementation. We are working to deliver on our strong commitment to public health in this city with additional hospital beds, expanded emergency care and increased capacity at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.
This budget that should be debated today will help grow and diversify the territory economy and will provide key support in areas of jobs growth such as tourism and higher education and, importantly, it boosts our construction sector. It sets out the first key steps to build and transform our city in our second century. It starts the design work on the University of Canberra public hospital. It starts the important preparatory work on the city to the lake and the Australia forum projects. It establishes the Capital
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video