Page 1183 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 7 May 2014
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MS GALLAGHER: I thank Ms Berry for the question. As Ms Berry outlined in her question, last week the commonwealth government did release the Commission of Audit report as one of the blueprints for commonwealth policy decision-making, perhaps to be reflected in the federal budget next week. It made 86 recommendations, none of which, it is clear, have been endorsed by the commonwealth government. However, it does contain recommendations which, if adopted, would hold quite significant consequences for the ACT.
The report also advises, though, that the commission has not undertaken detailed costings of the recommendations. However, when you look at some of the recommendations proposed by the commission, it would create a large number of casualties in the form of public servant jobs, and of course we would disproportionately share in that allocation. I notice that Tony Shepherd said in the order of 15,000 originally, although that did seem to change over the next 24 hours. We would expect to see thousands of jobs lost from Canberra if they were adopted.
The recommendations, if agreed, would shift employment from the public sector to the private sector. Whilst this would create some opportunities, these recommendations are largely accompanied by downsizing and consolidation recommendations. These would have flow-on effects to the ACT economy, with significant effects on industries such as retail trade, communication, hotels, cafes and child care.
I think, and I hope, the Commission of Audit is largely a distraction in preparation for a less bad outcome in the federal budget next week. But there were a number of very significant recommendations in relation to health, schools, disability and the federal financial relations framework which, if adopted, would have the potential for some very negative consequences here in Canberra and indeed for some of the small states in relation to those federal financial funding arrangements.
In schools funding, it recommends a major withdrawal for the commonwealth, transferring all policy and funding responsibilities to the states and territories—as it does, to some degree, in health. That poses some significant risks to jurisdictions which do not have the revenue-raising capacity to meet the growth in those large areas of government expenditure.
It remains to be seen how many of these recommendations are proceeded with, but it was a $2½ million exercise, I understand, to get this audit report to where it is, and from the point of view of an average Canberran raising a family in the ACT, it is not a blueprint that we would want adopted.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Chief Minister, do you have any preliminary estimate of the number of jobs at risk in the ACT if the recommendations relating to a reshaping of the federal public service were adopted?
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