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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (25 May) . . Page.. 1830 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

$19.7 million came from the mechanical changes and $57.4 million came from the issues the ACT government specifically argued as being improvements in revenue and expenditure methods of calculation. So there is the evidence. The ACT government's submission did make a difference. We argued our case on the non-mechanical issues and this accounted for two-thirds-actually it is more like three-quarters-of the total increase awarded to the ACT. So there is no windfall, there is no lucky happenstance here. It was a result of hard work and that is what the figure clearly demonstrate.

Mr Quinlan also said that basically self-government in the ACT started with debt-I think that was the phrase he used. I want to show members a graph-I have tabled it before in this place so I will not do so again-which sets out the balance of the consolidated fund of the ACT between the years 1990-91 and 1995-96. As members can clearly see from the graph, the consolidated revenue fluctuated quite a lot. Consolidated revenue-in other words, the ACT's reserves-reached a peak in September 1991, not long after the Labor Party came to office again, of about $218 million. Wayne Berry tried to get hold of, but failed miserably to capture, this working capital. But $218 million is the amount we are talking about.

This graph clearly shows over the intervening years between Labor's coming to office in 1991 and leaving it in 1995 a continuous erosion of that consolidated revenue reserve. The point was reached in April 1995-surprise, surprise, just a month or two before an election-where it actually reached zero. So the reserves went from $218 million to zero. This was all Labor's work, every last penny of it. That is where the ACT's legacy went, that is where the debt rose, that is where the superannuation liabilities mounted, that is what we inherited from Labor, and that is what the Auditor-General was referring to in his report on the 1995/96 operating loss. That is why this budget is a major achievement for the ACT.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (4.48): Pursuant to standing order 174, I move:

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (4.49): Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I seek leave to move a motion concerning the referral of Appropriation Bill 1999-2000 (No 3) to the Select Committee on Estimates 2000-01.

Leave granted.

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