Page 4815 - Week 16 - Thursday, 29 November 1990
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Transitional Funding Trust Account
MS FOLLETT: My question is to Mr Kaine as Treasurer. Mr Kaine, given that one of the criteria for the release of transitional funding trust account money was that projects cannot be funded by other means, why did your letter to the Prime Minister say that proposed projects could, in fact, be funded by ACT borrowings?
MR KAINE: I think my intention was to make it clear to the Prime Minister that the alternative to releasing funds from the trust fund was borrowing. Quite clearly, the Prime Minister sees that as the best option, and that will raise the future public debt of the ACT. It will raise the repayment costs and it will add to the cost of every future budget until that money is repaid.
MS FOLLETT: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Mr Kaine, you did include $44.2m in the budget for new borrowings. Given that fact, is that not an indication that you never really expected to receive funds from the trust account because you knew that the proposals you put forward were actually outside the guidelines?
MR KAINE: On the contrary, the proposal that I put forward, as I explained yesterday, was within the guidelines; it met the guidelines and the criteria set by the Commonwealth in every respect. The reason why I included the $44m borrowing was that, if in the event the Commonwealth did refuse to provide the money out of the budget, then we had to indicate that we had made a provision in the budget to cover it. It is a simple matter of prudence. You do not produce a budget with a $28m or $10m gap in it on the off-chance that the money will come like manna from heaven, which is the way you operated when you were in government.
Street Barriers
MR STEVENSON: My question is to Mr Duby, he being in charge of road closures. Is Mr Duby aware that notwithstanding his advice that lamps should be placed at the intersection of Wakefield Avenue and Dooring Street that has not been done, and since the time I last brought the matter up those barriers have been run into at least three times? Could he also advise which government department would any motorist who has run into that barrier go to for compensation if their vehicle is damaged?
MR DUBY: I think we have finally established where Mr Stevenson is residing these days.
Mr Stevenson: Information!
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