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This three-year budget has four main elements. First, it is a strategy for sound financial management. We will turn around a deficit for 1995-96 of $44m to a surplus of $21m by the end of our third year, and this surplus will increase from there onwards. By 1997-98 we can begin putting aside real money to meet our long-term liabilities, and, when the Commonwealth's transitional funding runs out in three years, this Government will ensure that the ACT is able to stand on its own two feet.

Second, this budget delivers improved services to the Canberra community. In the lead-up to this year's election we stated that reform of our health system was our No. 1 priority. Labor spent more on health every year and Canberrans got less. Over the next three years Canberrans will get more services and Health will, in real terms, spend less. That means more operations for urgent cases on our waiting list, increased funding for disability and aged care services, and a range of new services. We also said that funding for education would be maintained in real terms. This budget delivers on that commitment. We have targeted the high cost of public transport. Over the next three years ACTION will become more efficient and the subsidy will be reduced by $12m.

Third, we are committed to working closely with the private sector to achieve lasting growth through a real partnership that recognises just how important a strong economic climate is to Canberra's future. This budget provides a major boost to ACT businesses and reflects our determination to lead, not follow, other States in helping our local companies to expand. Over the next three years an increase in the payroll tax threshold will put us ahead of New South Wales and provide relief for more than 130 businesses, and $10m has been set aside for increased promotion and marketing of Canberra as a business, tourism and sporting destination.

The fourth feature of this three-year program is that all agencies will be required to adopt better management practices and improve customer service. The focus of our public service will shift from what has been a miniature Commonwealth structure to a regional model of service delivery that puts customers first. Agencies will be accountable for the full cost of the goods and services they produce. Our financial management reforms will lead to the introduction of full accrual accounting and outcomes budgeting by 1 July 1996. This will place the ACT ahead of other Australian governments in financial accountability. We will attack the high cost of workers compensation, too, and try to resolve the cases of many hundreds of employees that the system seems to have forgotten.

This Government inherited an economy that reflected the previous Labor administration - one that was tired, deteriorating and without strategic direction. It is a legacy that saw the bottom fall out of the economy in the last 12 months of the Follett Government. Economic growth more than halved to just 2.5 per cent - significantly below the national rate of 4.5 per cent. Private investment in the ACT declined by 7.9 per cent compared with 12.8 per cent growth nationally. Employment growth slumped to just 700 new jobs in 1994-95, with no reduction in unemployment and declining participation rates. Population growth ground to a halt, with negative net interstate migration to Canberra during 1994-95. Residential building approvals plummeted, inflation was running above the national rate, and retail turnover was barely half the national growth rate.

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