Page 2821 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 17 September 2014
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Our 2014-15 budget contained record investments in health, education, community services and included funding for a range of transformational projects for the city, a number of which have been the subject of extensive debate in this place in recent times. Our forward year $2.5 billion infrastructure program will create jobs and economic activity and we will continue to work with a range of private sector investors to progress these important projects.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Treasurer, why has the ACT government had to act to support the territory economy?
MR BARR: Because the commonwealth government had mugged this city’s economy. The commonwealth has significantly reduced its spending and employment. We are a year into this new government and the Australian government’s share of employment in the Australian Capital Territory has fallen from 31.3 per cent in 2011 to now down to around 30 per cent. There have been significant additional reductions in employment from the commonwealth and significant additional cuts to the Canberra-based workforce and, indeed, to their expenditure in our economy.
We have seen more than 2,000 public sector job losses this financial year and an additional 6,500 to come. We have seen cuts in funding for national education reform, national health reform, the national partnership on Indigenous early childhood development and the national partnership on financial assistance for long-stay older patients. All of these cuts are impacting upon our economy.
We are seeing some of the leading indicators, particularly associated with consumer confidence, take a real nosedive as a result of the commonwealth budget. The commonwealth government want to talk about anything but their budget at the moment because their plans are to whack a tax on every Canberran who wants to visit a GP. They want to make going to university in this city cost $100,000. That is their desire—to make it more expensive to access health and education services; to cut funding from public health and public education. That is the Liberal agenda and we are seeing it writ large in this city at the moment. It is no wonder that consumer confidence is low, because the Liberal Party and the Liberal government federally have mugged this economy.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Dr Bourke.
DR BOURKE: Treasurer, what future actions is the ACT government taking to support our economy?
MR BARR: In marked contrast to the Liberal Party, we will invest in this community and in this economy. We will invest in health and education. We will invest in public transport, and we will invest in helping people who are vulnerable because they are living in a Mr Fluffy home. We will invest in them. We will invest in those key priorities to ensure that this city continues to grow, that we have a heart, that we are fair and that we bring everyone with us.
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