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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4109 ..

Proposed expenditure - Canberra Tourism, $6,416,000 - agreed to.

Proposed expenditure - Arts and Heritage, $18,340,000 - agreed to.

Proposed expenditure - Bureau of Sport, Recreation and Racing, $19,593,000 - agreed to.

Part 9 - Department of Urban Services

Proposed expenditure - Urban Services, $194,331,000

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (1.41 am): Mr Speaker, I rise on this appropriation to draw members' attention to a few matters in relation to this proposed expenditure. The first thing to which I want to draw members' attention is that the Urban Services appropriation is one of the appropriations where you will find - - -

Mr Stefaniak: We have not got there yet. He has to do the final part - - -

MR WHITECROSS: No; we are in the Urban Services appropriation. You have not been paying attention.

Mr Stefaniak: Have you done the total, Mr Speaker?

MR WHITECROSS: You do not have to do the total. You do the appropriation units.

Mr Stefaniak: My apologies. Please carry on.

MR WHITECROSS: That is okay. Mr Stefaniak, I am always happy to wait while you catch up.

Mr Speaker, the appropriation unit for Urban Services is one of the appropriation units in which you will find debt servicing charges for the Government's borrowing to fund their budget deficit. In the Urban Services portfolio you will find things called lease payments for the Challis Street building and lease payments for Macarthur House, which are, in reality, debt servicing costs for the money that the Government borrowed by the sale and lease-back agreements to fund their budget deficit. So, instead of this money showing up where it should show up, as a Central Financing Unit item, Mr Speaker, what you will find is that we are spending money in the Urban Services portfolio, effectively paying for the servicing of part of the $100m which the Government had to borrow to fund their budget deficit.

Mr Speaker, I think that is an important point for members to note, because it makes the accounts more confusing. It is even more confusing when you contemplate that, according to Mrs Carnell, even though lease costs associated with the Challis Street building, for instance, or the Macarthur House building, will show up here, there will be

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