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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2798 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

ACT Housing, part 15, is funded off line, but there will be commentary about the government's intentions with housing.

Part 16 looks at the Department of Justice and Community Safety. At last there is something in the government's response to the Estimates Committee about terms of reference. I question why they could not have been provided much earlier so the public could scrutinise what the government intends to do. They promised to be honest, open and more accountable. It seems they are dragged kicking and screaming to keep that promise.

Part 17 is the Department of Education and Community Services. The Chief Minister, in his press release, said:

Dozens of major education initiatives, which we support, could not be funded.

Seven million dollars is unallocated. I am sure Mr Pratt will take that up.

This does not seem to be a budget heading in any general direction. It does not seem to be a budget of vision. It certainly does not seem to be a budget that has a clear outline of where Canberra will be in three, six, nine or even 10, 20 or 30 years. It seems to be a budget that has been cobbled together and a budget without a clear theme. That might not be a good thing or a bad thing.

I notice the word "sustainability" scattered throughout the documents. It appears 12 times on one page, according to one source. Sustainability was questioned on several occasions in the Estimates Committee. It seems at some stages that the whole notion of an Office of Sustainability is being ignored by the government. When the question was: "Would the office be involved in such-and-such a proposal or such-and-such a project?" the answer was: "No, they would not."

If we are to have sustainability across government, across portfolios and across the ACT, we will be looking at how the Office of Sustainability will impact upon that commitment.

We believe that this budget does not address the concerns of the people of the ACT. It is quite clear that the government cannot meet their commitments in health. I believe a pall is cast over the education budget by the Chief Minister when he says, "We could not fund major initiatives."

How will they tie this together and make it work? On this side of the house, as we progress through the budget in detail in the next couple of days, we will explore exactly how all of this fits together, whether it fits together, whether it will deliver the things that were promised by the Labor Party in the lead-up to the election and whether the government is ready to go, even though they occupy the treasury bench.

The government needs direction and purpose. They need vision and commitment. Those opposite lack vision and have a very lazy approach to taking the government and the people of Canberra somewhere.

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