Page 554 - Week 02 - Thursday, 24 March 2022
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The pandemic has highlighted the need to continue to improve the efficiency and productivity of our economy, to sustain economic growth during economic shocks and to support economic growth in the long term. Our tax reform program is one such example. It continues, year on year, to remove a significant barrier to Canberrans owning their own home. The budget review further supports this progress by expanding the off-the-plan unit conveyance duty concession by increasing the cap to $600,000 from 1 April this year. We will continue to cut stamp duty in every budget that I deliver as Treasurer.
Wellbeing is at the centre of government decision-making. We continue to embed the wellbeing framework in our budget process, broader policy development processes and in program implementation. We are the first jurisdiction in Australia to do so. Amongst other things, this includes incorporating a gender perspective through wellbeing impact assessments. This process is helping to ensure that we are explicitly considering those factors that might influence our quality of life throughout the policy process, from design, to decision, to delivery.
At the commencement of this speech, I spoke about the risks to our economic outlook and the investments that the territory government is making to deliver on our priorities. This includes ensuring that we have the settings in place to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead for our growing and resilient economy. Last Wednesday I launched the ACT’s economic development priorities for the next four years, and I spoke about them in this place earlier in the week.
The mission-oriented, forward-looking policy document that we have released sets out our ambitions to continue growing a highly productive, increasingly diversified and progressive economy for the future, to give people back time, to move towards a net zero-emissions city and then go beyond, and to prioritise knowledge-based economic growth.
We have identified the areas of strength in our city and our economy that we will seek to build on in the coming years to support the creation of new jobs and to provide more opportunities for Canberrans in an increasingly diverse range of industry sectors. We look forward to building on this ambitious plan in the economic statements to come in this parliamentary term.
As I said, never has the role of government and a strong public sector been clearer than has been the case over the past two years—to respond quickly in a crisis, to use borrowing and our balance sheet to invest, to support our most vulnerable, and to protect and shape the local economy through this period of recovery and growth. There is still a journey ahead of us. We have a long way still to go, but the budget review I will table today is another essential step in delivering the plan, our plan, for the future as Canberra emerges stronger, together. I present the following papers:
Financial Management Act, pursuant to section 20A—Budget 2021-22—Budget review.
Budget 2021-22—Budget review—Ministerial statement 24 March 2022.
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