Page 211 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
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whatever philosophy he has, the Treasurer is ineffectual in managing our economy. This is his report card to date and he knows it.
The problem is that we started with a supposed deficit in 2013-14 which drifted to 2015-16 and then it drifted to 2016-17. One wonders for how long the drift will continue. It was no surprise that under pressure the government announced a $107 million deficit blowout earlier this month. The Treasurer lashed out at a Canberra resident and, indeed, lashed out at the media. He said on the ABC that Australian politics and economic debate in this country is dumbed down to the point that it is just a score board. When taken to task by the presenter he got a bit troubled by it so he shifted the blame again and said it is the private sector’s fault.
The Treasurer shifted his focus quickly away from the dumbing down of the economic debate to the local private sector in reply to a question about the lack of economic diversification in the ACT. He said, “The private sector are not exactly stepping up to the plate at the moment making large investments. Although we are seeking that, we are going overseas for that because we don't think we're going to get that locally.” It will be interesting to see which parts of the local private sector he thinks are not stepping up and how he defines “making large investments“. I know people in the community are upset at the fact that he said people are not stepping up to the plate.
It is interesting; during one of the votes we were having a little chat across the chamber about the opening of the Rum Bar last night. There he was saying, “Here's some local businesses stepping up,” but there he is on the radio a week before saying business is not stepping up. Which is it, minister? This is yet another example of the government's contempt for Canberra residents and the business community at large.
Rather than admit the fact that the government has mismanaged the territory's budget and failed to diversify the economy over the last 12 years, Mr Barr has instead decided to blame Canberrans for having a dumbed down understanding of economics—this is the least likely jurisdiction to have anything dumbed down—and then blame local businesses for not investing enough. Given that Mr Barr has blown out the deficit by about 42 per cent since its announcements last June, the tack that he has taken is highly condescending.
The minister claims the economy is slowing down, yet in the light of the government's deficit blowout it is cold comfort to know that the government's expenses have increased by approximately $91 million. The government's poor management of ACTEW—let’s face it, the Treasurer and the Chief Minister are the two shareholders—has led to dividends being revised downwards by approximately $121 million over four years and tax income equivalents by $54.3 million over the same period.
The government continues to slug Canberra residents and businesses with an anticipated $7.3 million increase in taxation revenue from the 2013-14 ACT budget. So at a time when the government should be making it easier for families to pay bills and businesses to operate, they are hitting them with even more taxes, not to mention the charges.
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