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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (2 December) . . Page.. 4383 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

new election date were pushed through this Assembly, in the face of my opposition, some months ago. I think it would have been a good idea to take a couple of breaths and settle down until the matter had been properly considered. This is one issue that should have been dealt with.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (10.44): Mr Speaker, in terms of not thinking things through, maybe Mr Berry has not yet done so at this stage, either. If this amendment were to pass now and the Labor Party were to be elected on 21 February next year, taking into account how long it often takes for the final numbers to be in place, it might be the end of March or early April before the new Assembly sits. That is when the new Chief Minister would be elected. Mr Berry, if we passed this amendment, would have to bring down a budget, assuming he got into office in April, within eight weeks. He would have about eight weeks to bring down a budget. Mr Speaker, I do not think he could do it. I just do not believe that it is possible for that to happen.

I would have to say that I think Mr Berry, by putting forward an amendment that requires the budget to be brought down before 30 June 1998, is causing difficulties for himself if he is elected. I would have to say that even if we were re-elected it would be a very difficult thing to do, Mr Speaker, simply because we would be out of action for a period of time. Mr Speaker, I suggest that it is inappropriate to change this legislation at this stage. At some stage in the future, it may be an appropriate thing to do. I have to say that, for the life of me, I cannot understand why Mr Berry would put forward a piece of legislation that requires him, if he is elected - and the polls would tend to indicate that he will be - to bring down a budget within a couple of months of coming to power.

Maybe the approach should be for Mr Berry to suggest that we put it off till the following year. I think it is the sort of thing that the Assembly should look at in the future. Certainly, wherever possible, a government should bring down a budget before the end of the financial year. But the FMA, at this stage, does allow three additional months. I think that is a fairly appropriate thing to allow to happen, particularly next year, as we will have an election in February. I cannot understand why anybody would want to do this.

MR WHITECROSS (10.47): Mrs Carnell made a good point, but also made an extraordinary statement when she said that she could not imagine why we would want to do it. From what I have gathered in my three years in parliament, members on both sides of the house have supported the idea of budgets being brought down before the end of the financial year. I think the Labor Party and the Liberal Party have slightly different positions in relation to that. The Liberal Party seems to believe that it should bring down the budget some time in May and pass it by the end of June - allowing a maximum of five weeks for scrutiny of it, but preferably less - whereas the Labor Party thinks that the budget should be brought down by the end of the financial year and a reasonable time should be allowed for scrutiny before it is passed. But both sides of the house and, as far as I can tell, Mr Moore and other members of the Assembly have supported, in the past, the idea of budgets being brought down in the first half of the financial year.

Mrs Carnell: I agree. We do, too.

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