Page 1423 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 28 March 2012
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Mr Smyth interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Smyth.
MR BARR: from households into increasing their savings to pay down debt—
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, thank you.
MR BARR: and that is impacting on the GST pool, which is in turn impacting—
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, I have asked you twice.
MR BARR: on revenues available to state and territory governments. That is occurring for every jurisdiction—not just in the ACT; across the board. However, the impacts of that are offset somewhat by the Grants Commission’s recent determination in relation to GST relativities which will partially offset some of the losses in the total GST pool.
There are, of course, a number of other factors at play in relation to finances and revenues coming into the territory. But what is interesting is that in the last quarterly report on government finances, government expenditure was spot-on what was projected. What we are seeing, though, is some reduction in some revenue lines.
However, we are confident that in longer term, with the prudent financial management measures that the government have put in place in relation to our own budgeting and in relation to tax policy settings for the future, we will see not only a continuation of strong growth but an improvement in our budget situation. (Time expired.)
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja, a supplementary.
MR SESELJA: Given that you have pointed to falling revenues, how does revenue in this financial year compare to revenue when Labor first came to office? If you like, you can compare it to pre-GFC levels.
MR BARR: Projections for revenues have had to be adjusted significantly as a result of the global financial crisis. That is the case across all state and territory budgets and indeed across the commonwealth budget. What we have seen of course is a significant increase in the total size of the territory budget—as we have seen a significant increase in the total population of the territory and we have seen an increase in the costs of running government services. We know every year that—
Opposition members interjecting—
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