Page 1753 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 13 May 2015
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Dr Bourke talks about—where is that money coming from? What has been forgone to allow that to happen? You should not make those implications, Dr Bourke. You are simply parroting Mr Barr’s economic delusions.
Time and again, the government, when they talk about economic development, are pushing nothing more than extreme partisanship couched as fiscal policy, supplemented by the Treasurer’s touristic comprehension of economics. How can we state this any more clearly? The Greens-Labor mob across the floor is not the fountain of innovation and new business thinking, and we have proved that.
From 1995 to 2001 the then Carnell Liberal government changed the face of this city by going after IT development, EPIC and NICTA.
Mr Barr interjecting—
MR SMYTH: Yes, we got some things wrong, and we have never shied away from that, but we were trying. At least we tried.
Mr Barr: That’s the first time you’ve ever admitted that.
MR SMYTH: No; I have said that many times to you. You just do not listen. That is your problem. What we have is this: a decade after these guys came to government—
Mr Barr interjecting—
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Mr Barr, you have had your opportunity to speak.
MR SMYTH: It is simply 12 years too late. They talk about it, but let us look at the list. You need to look at what Dr Bourke’s Treasurer has said about business thus far. When it comes to jobs, Mr Barr said he does not care where the employment comes from, regardless of whether they are in the public sector or the private sector. He said:
We will continue to pursue a set of tax policies that encourage private sector employment growth.
Yet we know that many are complaining about his tax policy and the extra impost it is putting on—not just on tripling rates for private dwellings but in the business community as well. What did the Property Council say in South Australia? “Yes, let’s have tax reform—anything but what they did in the ACT.”
Now we have his budget spending:
The higher borrowings in the forward years are partly due to the future works provision for capital projects, which has been increased to account for some high value projects for which budgets are either yet to be settled …
Read “capital metro”. With that, we have a deficit that has blown out from $332.8 million to $770 million, with net debt skyrocketing by 30 per cent. Yes, Mr Fluffy is in there, but if you take the Mr Fluffy effect out, the budget got blown anyway.
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