Page 1777 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2016

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Wednesday, 8 June 2016

MADAM SPEAKER (Mrs Dunne) took the chair at 10 am and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.

Fiscal management

MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (10.02): I move:

That this Assembly:

(1) notes:

(a) that when he became Treasurer, the Chief Minister inherited a $44m surplus;

(b) the record deficits created by the Chief Minister since he became Treasurer;

(d) the deficit continued to climb by $71m between the 2015-16 Budget and Revised Estimates;

(e) that general government expenditures have climbed by more than $1.1 billion during the Treasurer’s incumbency;

(f) that rates collected have more than doubled under the Treasurer’s stewardship;

(g) the increase in punitive fees and charges levied on Canberra’s citizens;

(h) the onerous cost burden this Government has imposed on the Canberra community;

(i) the decline in quality of services and rundown in community amenity in the last five years; and

(j) the additional burden imposed by the cost of building and operating a light rail line from Gungahlin to Civic; and

(2) calls on the Labor Government to:

(a) cease inappropriately increasing cost burdens on the community; and

(b) better manage its budget to reduce costs on the community and the debt burden passed onto future generations of Canberrans.

Madam Speaker, here we are, on the day after the budget the Treasurer delivered, and the world has changed very little. What we have is a high-taxing, high-spending government with high levels of debt and surpluses off somewhere in the distance.

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