Page 1676 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 3 June 2014

The Gallagher Government believes in the brilliant possibilities that Canberra offers.

We believe in the role of government to support fairness and opportunity.

We are more than just consumers operating in an economy, units of economic production.

We are people and we live in a community.

We believe in the good that comes from a community that has the opportunity to grow, to learn and to think big.

We have enshrined these values in our Budget.

That is why this city always does better under Labor governments.

All Budgets are about choices—choices that show how much faith governments have in their community.

We are not choosing the austerity path taken by conservative governments—a path to cut services and to harm the community.

We will not add to the pain caused by the Commonwealth. We will not sacrifice essential services to our community for the sake of the bottom line.

Instead, we are taking the path that good governments take.

That is why our Budget is about investing in Canberra.

This Budget invests record funding in the vital areas of health, education and community services.

And it invests in the transformative infrastructure our city needs to create jobs and economic activity.

This investment will maintain growth in our economy and support jobs, which is even more important now at this time of Commonwealth contraction.

This investment provides the services, the facilities and the infrastructure that our community deserves.

And this investment will help our economy to modernise and to grow productively into the future.

These decisions are sustainable and they are planned for the long term.

Failing to act now will jeopardise our city’s long-term growth and the health of our community.