Page 2829 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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commonwealth, rates, stamp duty, levies on rates, land tax, land sales and payroll tax goes from $4.4 billion in 2011-12 to $7.3 billion in 2021-22, well above inflation and population growth combined.
Going to expenses, total expenses will rise from $5 billion in 2011-12 to $6.7 billion in 2019-20 and $7.5 billion in 2021-22. Despite a 34 per cent increase in expenses in the seven years to 2018-19, I do not think anybody would say that they have had a 34 per cent increase in commensurate services.
Madam Speaker, Canberrans are being ripped off. The government is far more interested in its own pet projects and far more interested in its own ambition than in respecting the hopes and aspirations of Canberrans. The government is not on the same team as the people it is meant to represent. It is a government that has lost its way. It is a government that is driving households and businesses over the border into New South Wales. It is not sustainable. And for the taxes, rates, fees and charges that Canberrans are paying, we are not getting the commensurate services.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tertiary Education, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (6.06): I will speak multiple times in this particular section of the debate, obviously, as it covers at least four of my portfolios. I will begin my remarks tonight by focusing on the Chief Minister’s stream within the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate. I begin with a statement of the obvious: that this central agency provides strategic advice and support not only to me as Chief Minister but to various portfolio ministers and to cabinet on policy, service delivery, whole-of-government issues and intergovernmental relations. The Chief Minister’s stream also provides strategic direction for the ACT public service as a whole, supports whole-of-government coordination functions and works to drive change and a culture of continual improvement within the ACT public sector.
In this capacity, its work is integral to achieving a focused, one-government approach to service delivery for all Canberrans. It does so in large part in a consistent framework against the Hawke review that was released in 2011. If you look at the preferred option and directorate structure that was proposed by the Hawke review and what is in place now you will see a striking similarity between those recommendations in 2011 and the structure of ACT government now in 2019. That is the first of many wildly inaccurate statements from the Leader of the Opposition that I will correct over the course of this debate.
I take the opportunity this evening to highlight a couple of initiatives in the Chief Minister’s steam that are delivered through the budget and that emphasise the important whole-of-government focus of this area of the budget. A $15 million investment over four years to move delivery of more community services online, through the ACT digital account, is an initiative that is part of the government’s push to find better ways of delivering services to meet people’s needs. We know that today’s citizens have a very high expectation of how they will interact with government and what they will be able to do online, and we aim to continue to step up our service offerings in response.
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