Page 1240 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 May 2006
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Moreover, the opposition have become aware that some of the content of these briefings has suggested that the Stanhope government’s budgetary dilemma is far more serious than had been anticipated. In fact, we understand that estimates of a budget deficit of $190 million in the outyears could be expected and that this will be the outcome even with some drastic expenditure-cutting measures being implemented. He sits there laughing. The Chief Minister has denied these claims and continues to do so, as we have seen in his “Mr Cresote” regurgitating-style performances in the Assembly earlier this week. These denials appear somewhat hollow, however, as we also understand that the Chief Minister has told Mr Costello not to talk to anyone about what is in his report or about the nature of the deliberations that Mr Costello and his colleagues had with other parties. It is all a big secret.
This response from Mr Stanhope simply serves to confirm his hypocrisy, unfortunately. He claimed the moral high ground in the lead-up to the 2001 ACT election by asserting that he would operate an open and accountable government—the apparent moral high ground that was reinforced at the ACT ALP’s conference last year—yet the reality is that, as soon as the Chief Minister has to face such a crucial test, he ducks.
I will put Mr Stanhope’s stellar performance aside for a moment and turn to the performance of his government. The ACT community can now look at the period of the Stanhope era thus far and make a judgment of the performance of that government without there being any excuse that a problem is a legacy from any previous administration. We can see where the Stanhope government has come from, what it has done and where it is likely to go.
In particular, it is most important, following Mr Stanhope’s decision to have a Costello review of the ACT budget, to see how the ACT budget has been performing. Jon Stanhope has had enough time now to be entirely responsible for his own budgetary failures without retreating into any excuses that his failures are due to decisions of a previous government. Anyone with a sense of history would recall that the Liberal opposition has been warning the Stanhope government about the budgetary decisions that have been made over the past three years—some of these pet projects, for example. Of course, the Stanhope government has not taken any notice of what has been said. Majority government in this Assembly proves the point, doesn’t it, Mr Stanhope—although we sometimes wonder if former Treasurer Ted Quinlan might have found favour with some of our comments before he was overruled by his colleagues, clearly.
The reason I want to mention what we have said in recent years is that our views are now being confirmed. In our response to the 2004 budget, the Liberal opposition leader, Brendan Smyth, characterised the budget as a “budget of missed opportunity”. Interestingly, this sentiment was reinforced the day following by the Canberra Times, in an excellent editorial titled “Budget misses opportunities”. The Labor Party love to hear it when it is good, but are loath to listen when it is bad, so they might want to switch off now. The Canberra Times said: “The ACT Budget is probably a bit of a disappointment for anyone hoping for some leadership, inspiration or a public dividend from an economy essentially in good shape.” In response to the 2005 budget, the Liberal opposition said:
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