Page 1783 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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I think that much of what this government does is propaganda and spin, and what we must do now is move towards a private sector economy, pulling in tandem with the public sector, to give Canberra a fabulous future. (Time expired.)
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Community Services) (5.14): I thank the shadow treasurer for raising this issue today. I regret that the government cannot support the motion as it currently stands because it is riddled with errors. Mr Smyth is perfectly entitled to express his opinion, but he is not entitled to twist facts. Let me begin by correcting some of the errors of fact in Mr Smyth’s motion.
I begin with point (1)(a). In 2001 private sector employment was 57.5 per cent of the territory economy, not 60 per cent, as Mr Smyth indicated.
Point (1)(b), about the ACT government’s position in relation to the last five budgets, is indeed correct: a significant risk for the territory economy that has come to fruition is that the commonwealth government would contract its expenditure. The ACT government has supported the diversification of this economy, though, and the facts bear out that reality.
The largest concern I have with Mr Smyth’s idea of simply measuring ratios of employment is that there is no resemblance at all then to the total level of employment. In theory, Mr Smyth, we could have 100 per cent private sector employment if every public servant was sacked. That would well and truly achieve your target—it would exceed it—but it would be a stupid way to achieve it. I do not believe that is your intent, but to claim that the Carnell government achieved 60 per cent off the back of growth in the private sector—when that growth, if it was driven, was driven by direct outsourcing, so it was the same people performing exactly the same tasks for government but doing so as private contractors—is just sheer folly. That is not a more diverse economy.
The key points to note here are these. What is the total level of employment in your economy? How much has employment grown? From the government’s perspective, that is what we are interested in—the total number of jobs in our economy. The facts are that between 2001 and 2011 there were 12,751 additional private sector jobs in our economy. Over that same period, the commonwealth increased its employment by 12,425. So both the private sector and the commonwealth government grew employment to the tune of 12,751 extra jobs in the private sector and 12,425 in the commonwealth sector. Across the territory government, there were 474 additional positions.
So all three players, if you like—the territory government, the second largest employer in the ACT; the commonwealth government, the largest employer; and the private sector, made up of 26,000 firms—contributed to employment growth.
Where did growth come from? It came in professional, scientific and technical services that increased from 13,100 jobs in the mid-90s to nearly 23,000 jobs in 2012-13. Education and training grew from 14,300 jobs in 1995-96 to over 19,000 jobs in
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