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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2328 ..
MR SMYTH
(continuing):more relevant indicators. One of the indicators is to monitor and review the investment performance of the superannuation investment portfolio. One would have thought that was the whole purpose of the superannuation unit.
Mr Quinlan
: Right on the job.MR SMYTH
: "Right on the job,"the Treasurer said, and he is right. We should not dismiss the day-to-day, because you have got to monitor that as well. To monitor what they are actually achieving through this monitoring would be more appropriate.Superannuation is important. We need to ensure that, if we are going to make the year 2039-40 targets, the moneys are still being put aside regularly. The continuation of this strategy is important, and the government is to be commended at this stage. The opposition will, however, continue to monitor that the moneys, as promised, do appear. Any attempt to slow down the amount of moneys going into this account will have dire consequences in the years to come.
This is particularly so after about 2015-16. If you check the staffing profiles across all the departments where the information has been provided, a large number of ACT public servants are approaching the 55 year mark, and a large number of them will be taking early retirement or moving off to take their superannuation. We need to make sure that those amounts are there to cover their needs into the future.
MR QUINLAN
(Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Business and Tourism and Minister for Sport, Racing and Gaming) (5.37): I will take this opportunity to let members know that superannuation returns are shakily improving. I might as well confirm what I have already said in this place in response to something Mr Smyth said at an earlier line, which is that the latest estimate of the surplus for this year is about $100 million. It could be higher, but it is a case of what happens at 30 June in the stock market. It is dependent upon taxes.Of course, the fluctuations between what is expected and what happens in the last few weeks have all compressed. In fact, the real answer will not be known until all the accounts are in and the accounting arguments are had well into the next financial year when the final financial statements come out.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure-part 1.11-Health and Community Care, $429,099,000 (net cost of outputs), $25,432,000 (capital injection) and $8,436,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $462,967,000.
MR SMYTH
(Leader of the Opposition) (5.40): This line constitutes the largest single line in the budget. It beats the education budget by about $7 million and, therefore, is a very important line to consider, not just in terms of the money that will be spent in the Health and Community Care portfolio, but for what it provides for the people of the ACT.
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