Page 1906 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Mr Speaker, today the ACT Labor Government delivers a budget for the times we are in.
This is a prudent and carefully targeted budget to meet the challenges of the times.
This is a Budget that invests in our community.
Mr Speaker, at last year’s election we made commitments to the people of Canberra. Commitments to build a better city and a stronger community. Since the election, we have been listening, investing and delivering.
We continue this investment in our community and in our infrastructure through the 2009-10 Budget.
We are supporting jobs. We are planning for the future. We are meeting the challenges that these demanding financial times are placing on us, and we are doing so in a measured and deliberate manner.
We are tightening our belt, as so many in our community are doing.
And we are delivering on our commitments to the Canberra community.
Mr Speaker, the 2009-10 Budget has been formulated in an unprecedented economic environment.
Over the past six months those global financial events that found their origins in the boardrooms of the US and took effect on trading floors across the world, have impacted severely and deeply on the global economy.
We are witnessing the most synchronised and the sharpest slowdown in the world economy since the great depression of the 1930s.
Estimates of growth in the world economy have been successively revised downwards. The global economy is now forecast to contract by 1.3 per cent in 2009.
The Australian economy is now almost certain to be in recession.
Governments around the world have undertaken unprecedented actions to improve liquidity in the credit markets, and to stimulate their respective economies.
While Australia is better placed to withstand the effects of a global recession, due in large part to the actions of the Rudd Government, an uncertain global economic outlook invariably leads to an uncertain national economic outlook.
The pace and the scale of deterioration in the world and the national economic outlooks are bound to cause concerns for consumers and businesses.
Mr Speaker, in the ACT our economy traditionally performs better than the economies of other jurisdictions during times of national recession, due to our major strength of being a stable public sector town.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .