Page 2582 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 7 August 2013
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Mr Smyth: I said a bipartisan committee.
MR RATTENBURY: A bipartisan committee? There are two and two on the committee, but what you have tried to do, Mr Smyth, is—
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr Rattenbury, if you could address the chair, and, Mr Smyth, if you could not distract Mr Rattenbury by trying to conduct a conversation across the chamber we would get on a lot better. Mr Rattenbury.
MR RATTENBURY: I will do my best, Madam Speaker. Thank you for the reminder. But there are two members of each party on the committee. That is patently true. But to then use that to allude to the fact that all of the members of the committee support the conclusions that Mr Smyth has now quoted in his motion today simply is not true and reflects badly on Mr Smyth’s own personal credibility.
Let us turn to one of the issues in the motion, the issue of debt and high levels of deficit. This budget does walk a fine line between balancing territory government expenditure and maintaining our AAA credit rating, and giving us enough fiscal space to ensure that if the worst comes to pass and there is a significant reduction in the size of the federal public service, we can respond to try to offset some of that contraction.
The Greens have long said that we are committed to a balanced budget over the economic cycle, and we support the planned return to surplus in 2015-16. There are spending cuts in the budget, and the Greens agree that we need to protect our AAA credit rating so that we can ensure that we have that strong rating and continue to pay the lowest possible interest costs on the borrowings that we do have.
The motion talks about a lack of delivery as a reason why we should not pass the budget. I am not exactly sure that the way that is phrased in the motion is quite how one measures that lack of delivery. But what I do know from the budget is that there are a large number of projects and policies that are being delivered. There is funding for the much-needed community legal centre hub and funding for the light rail master plan. I will come back to light rail shortly, but that project is being got on with.
There is money to enhance the biodiversity of Canberra’s woodlands, parks and nature reserves. We have got funding for the delivery of common ground, a project which will help tackle homelessness for disadvantaged Canberrans and achieve stability, and support services to improve the quality of their lives. That has been funded in this budget and is scheduled for delivery by December 2014.
When it comes to delivery, I also go back to the CIE report. When it comes to capital works spending, it makes the observation:
Sixteen per cent is for rollovers and reprofiling from 2012-13, lower proportionately to last year’s Budget indicating greater success in achieving on-time delivery.
Again, that is the independent analysis simply making that observation that progress is being made in that area.
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