Page 4086 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 26 November 2014
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$300 million to $400 million. The impact on the ACT’s bottom line, on the headline net operating balance, will be felt most in the current financial year and, to a lesser extent, in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 budgets. As I indicated in the statements tabled yesterday, the total impact could be up to $600 million over this period. But let us be very clear: our policy on Mr Fluffy is the right thing to do. The scheme is fair and measured and it will resolve this issue for good. It will not leave it to future generations of Canberrans to manage and it will ensure that those residents directly affected have a resolution and can move on from this tragic situation.
As I have just noted, the bulk of the cost will be borne in the current fiscal year and in the 2015-16 fiscal year. As one of the government’s priorities, we are committed to resolving this issue. But we are also committed to delivering on our election commitment to deliver transformative and necessary boosts to public transport, the centrepiece of which is the construction of the capital metro project. We are a government that will keep to our commitments. We are doing this in a fiscally responsible way through the delivery of light rail as a public-private partnership.
We continue to deliver for the people of the ACT. We are investing in the long-term growth of our community. We are providing the right support at the right time to mitigate the harsh cuts that are coming from the Liberal Party. It is sad that, having promised no cuts to health, no cuts to education, no changes to the pension, no cuts to the ABC and no cuts to SBS, the Prime Minister and his Liberal Party have reneged on all of those commitments. They have cut health, they have cut education, they have changed the pension by downgrading pension increases in the future, and just in the last week we have seen the cuts to the ABC and to SBS. We are seeing the impacts that all those cuts are having on Canberrans and particularly on the diversity of media in our city. I note that my colleague in the government Minister Rattenbury has a motion where we can discuss the impact of the Liberals’ cuts to the ABC on our city in more detail tomorrow. But for today, I thank Ms Porter for raising this important motion.
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Planning, Minister for Community Services, Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations, Minister for Children and Young People and Minister for Ageing) (3.52): I thank Ms Porter for this motion today. The impact federal government cuts are having on the ACT is already visible, just as it was when the Howard government first came to power. Since the election of the Abbott government the ACT has seen a slowing of its retail and construction sectors and a rise in unemployment. The cause for some of these statistics is obvious. If the federal government reduces the workforce of the APS, there will be higher unemployment and people will feel more worried about their future wellbeing. Unfortunately, these effects are felt deeper and faster in the ACT compared to other regions in Australia. The impact on local businesses, large and small, is felt immediately. With fewer people earning money and spending it in Canberra, businesses have fewer patrons and therefore make less money. Fewer public servants are out buying lunch or getting a coffee of a morning. Fewer public servants are out on a Friday night having a meal and a beer to relax after the week. This then moves down into the retail and hospitality sectors. Businesses need fewer staff, people get fewer shifts and make less money, and on it goes.
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