Page 3095 - Week 14 - Thursday, 7 December 1989
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Leave granted.
MR KAINE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. That was a much more resounding result. I will begin again.
Today is a very important day for the alliance Government and the Assembly. It is an historic occasion, which will see this territorial Government lead the way with its forward vision for the ACT.
The alliance Government will put the people of the ACT first and will do so in a cooperative form of government in which all members will participate actively for the good of our citizens. It is therefore, we believe, essential to put forward a statement of our intentions and vision for the Territory for the next two and a half years. In this way, the people of Canberra will know precisely what this incoming administration will aim to achieve in order to promote a better future for the ACT.
This Government will focus on two major areas: the economic well-being of the Territory, and the vision it has for the future of the ACT, where close to 300,000 people live. To this end we will actively support the committee of inquiry into the assets and public debt of the ACT, which has been set in place in response to my initiative as Opposition leader. This audit will determine what we own, what we owe, where we spend it and how effective that spending is.
We will seek to review the economy and the budget, and I will make an economic statement on future intentions by March of next year. We will develop a comprehensive five-year financial plan, clearly spelling out to the community the Government's priorities and intentions. Our five-year plan will identify the programs which the Government will put into effect to satisfy the needs of this community. It will be an open document so that the community can analyse it and comment on it. It will be updated each year, and constructive community comment will be considered at each annual update.
The plan will enable the community to see where their needs are accommodated in the plan and the priority accorded to them. For example, the private business sector will be able to gauge the Government's commitment to the expansion of the private sector and make judgments about the stability of the ACT's economic environment, to help it to make investment and other decisions.
As another example, the retired and soon-to-be-retired will be able to satisfy themselves about the commitment of the Government in assuring their security and peace of mind, by focusing on the priority accorded to them in the plan.
We will set about constructing the first five-year plan so that it will provide the basis for the compilation of the budget for the next financial year, 1990-91. In the
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