Page 1618 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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And that is the problem. Labor did know about this; Labor has always known about this. What is the major risk to the ACT economy according to the 2010-11 budget:
Commonwealth Government spending is a key determinant of economic activity in the ACT.
This is 2010-11, so that is in federal Labor time:
The Commonwealth Government’s planned constraint on spending in order to restore its Budget to surplus is expected to have a major impact on economic growth in the ACT over the forward estimates period.
Did we have any complaint from local Labor about that? No, we did not. They were not willing to take it up. They knew there was a risk, but they did not get prepared.
Let us go to the 2012-13 budget. Whose budget was that, Treasurer?
The main short term risk continues to stem from uncertainty regarding the Commonwealth Government consumption expenditure … Commonwealth Government funding is the largest contributing factor to ACT Government revenues, accounting for approximately 40 per cent of total revenue in 2012-13.
So, if that was a risk then, what did you do to get ready? The answer is absolutely nothing; absolutely nothing. For budget 2013-14 the risk to the economic outlook is condensed to just three paragraphs now:
The most important risk to the ACT’s economic outlook lies with the fiscal tightening of the Commonwealth Government … the Territory’s economic outlook also remains dependent on the spending and hiring decisions following the outcome of the upcoming Federal election.
Now, if, as it always has been, our economy is bound to the federal economy and federal government spending, why have you not done more to diversify the economy? Again, I heard Kate Carnell on the radio. She could have been reciting my lines. It was fantastic. When she got to office it was 40 per cent private sector; when she left it was 60 per cent. And it was hard work. There were no rose-coloured glasses in the ACT from 1995 to 2001. It was hard work. But we did that work. We transformed the economy and started genuine private sector growth here. But it has languished, because it is now 50 per cent of the economy. It is larger in numbers, but it is only half the economy.
This is the problem. Those opposite can bleat all they want, but 14,473 of these jobs are the responsibility directly of last year’s budget. I suspect the others you could say, because of Labor’s mismanagement, have occurred because they could not get the economy right. Even Ms Gallagher in her statement today said:
While I respect the government’s mandate to pursue budget savings—
They said in the lead-up to the election that they would fix Labor’s mistakes. Again, I will say it: I do not like the job cuts. I have said that about Labor cuts and I have said
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