Page 2736 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 16 September 2014
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This undoubtedly holds consequences for our budget that were unforseen even as late as the time our budget was finalised this year. When the 2014-15 budget was framed we did not have any detailed knowledge of the extent of the contamination of the Mr Fluffy homes at that point in time, compared to what we now have. And it is only through the process of more than 500 asbestos assessments that have now been done that it is clear how pervasive the problem is and, to some extent, how costly the solutions are.
The Mr Fluffy issue presents the government with a major budget imposition. The net cost is likely to run to at least $300 million over coming years. Depending on the type of program of remediation or the cleaning program which is agreed, the up-front costs could be significantly more than that. This is an unavoidable price of dealing once and for all with such an intractable legacy and, subject to receiving commonwealth assistance in line with the original remediation program, the ACT must make provision, through our budget, for the costs incurred.
Negotiations continue with the commonwealth and I would like to assure the Mr Fluffy home owners who continue to show patience that work is underway both across the ACT government and the commonwealth government to settle on a long-term solution. It is in that context that the government is reviewing our infrastructure spend. We will continue to give a high priority to health, to education, to transport, including public transport, and to the cost of dealing with the Mr Fluffy legacy.
We have also confirmed this week our commitment to capital metro which is a genuine, city-building project and a clear Labor commitment at the 2012 election—indeed, a commitment in the parliamentary agreement. Where other priorities need to be reconsidered, the government will do so to ensure the strength and sustainability of our budget.
The government has provision for major capital works over the next few years, $2½ billion over five years, including $735 million this year. Key areas of this investment will continue to roll out which will help to cushion the territory economy from some of the external challenges we are facing. We now expect an ACT government contribution to a Mr Fluffy program will need to come into that provision and this may cause delays to other components of the infrastructure program.
But the government will maintain a strong focus on our priority areas that I have mentioned and we, as a government, will continue to balance a range of priorities as we serve the community by continuing to back those four key priority areas and making some changes over the next few months in terms of what we will be able to afford, particularly over the next five years.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Dr Bourke.
DR BOURKE: Chief Minister, what happens to those projects that fall outside those key priority areas?
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