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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 8 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2201 ..
MR QUINLAN (continuing):
The last Liberal budget ignored the impending nurses salary settlement, as it ignored other very obvious wage and salary pressures. That budget also presumed a clearly unachievable clawback in public sector superannuation. In so doing it set out to create a legacy to be met in future years.
Losses made by CTEC and the Totalcare quarry, and the parlous state of Disability Services pointed out by the Gallop report, add to the pressure on this budget delivered today.
Mr Speaker, it has become obvious that the information technology base has been neglected in funding. This budget provides the largest ongoing commitment to funding the cost of information technology across the public service. This budget picks up the bill for information technology modernisation, which ought to have been much further advanced.
Mr Speaker, I could go on, but perhaps I will just remind members of the costs that were dealt with by this government in the second and third appropriation acts of 2001-02, in which the majority of items related to inherited problems.
This is an honest budget, Mr Speaker. This is a budget that is robust and financially sound.
Mr Speaker, the key principles of this government's fiscal strategy are:
maintenance of a balanced budget over the economic cycle;
adequate provision for long-term liabilities;
provision of the highest possible standard of government service, and maintenance of service levels, having regard to growth and monetary inflation;
a strategic approach to capital works programs;
relative conservatism in investment policies;
maintenance of a low level of debt; and
retention of a high international credit rating.
This government is committed to these principles and will, over our first term, ensure that each of these is promoted.
Mr Speaker, this government asked the Assembly standing committees to participate in the process of identifying service delivery and service prioritisation outcomes for the 2002-03 budget. The six standing committees made a total of 11 recommendations and two conclusions. Today I will also table the government's response to those committee reports.
Employment and the economic outlook
Mr Speaker, I now turn to the economic output. While output has been down on expectations during 2001-02, demand in the ACT has been far more buoyant than originally expected. State final demand for 2001-02 is now expected to grow by 4.1 per cent, compared with the previous budget estimate of 3 per cent.
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