Page 1244 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
which will in fact strengthen, based on the recent historical pattern of a constant underestimation by ACT Treasury.
To say that putting money back in the pockets of Canberrans has to be done at the expense of funding for education, health and police is simplistic and misleading. The government’s implied argument that they cannot afford to spend on core services and deliver tax relief does not balance with either their anticipated surplus or their constant declarations about investment in the health, education and police services.
My motivation in introducing this bill was not to dramatically slash the territory’s revenue. Returning $16.5 million to the community would not result in more schools closing or health services deteriorating. And for the government to claim this would be the case is misleading and points to the fundamental position of Labor that they do not trust residents with their own money. In their minds, the people most qualified to spend a person’s income are the government, not the person who earns that money.
The Chief Minister bemoans at length the impact of rate rises on family budgets. We have heard it every day this week. Here he has an opportunity to provide some relief to residents through his own local taxation, and he shies away from it. He continually blames the last commonwealth government for every rate increase, apparently. I do not know how they achieved it in other jurisdictions, as I said yesterday, but when it comes to the ACT, when there is an opportunity to put money back into—
Mr Barr: They were claiming credit for every rate reduction, so they can take responsibility for every rate rise.
MR MULCAHY: Mr Barr would not be old enough to remember, but I have lived through the Whitlam and Keating eras. You can talk about rate increases. They were prime examples of what happens when government goes off the rails. As I said, this is an opportunity to put more dollars back into the ordinary families.
As the Chief Minister said in question time today, people are having to cut back on movies and entertainment and clothing and education. Let us see the ACT start to put some of that back in their pockets rather than constantly expending money and, when a windfall comes, go to the people and say they will splash more money around. I fear that this government still has a philosophy of spending—
Members interjecting—
MR MULCAHY: I am struggling to hear myself. If we could just tone it down a bit, it would be most helpful. I fear that this government still has a philosophy of spending—
Members interjecting—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Gentleman): Mr Mulcahy, take your seat for a minute. Members, this conversation across the chamber makes it very hard to hear Mr Mulcahy.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .