Ms FINOCCHIARO - 2013-08-20
Can you advise the House why, in just 12 months, the government has established itself as a better economic manager than the previous Labor government, now led by the Opposition Leader?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for her important question which highlights what happened with the previous government. I will give the example of a recent conversation I had with an old mate of mine, Alexander Downer, the former Foreign minister of this country. Alexander said, ‘You are the Treasurer now. How are you finding the job?’ I said, ‘Alexander, I believe we have inherited the worse fiscal mess of any jurisdiction in the country’. He said, ‘That is not possible. Where I come from in South Australia it is absolutely dreadful; they have a $1bn budget deficit.’ I said, ‘Alexander, you pale into insignificance. We have $900m in the Northern Territory and only 250 000 people live here.’ He almost fell over.
The Labor Party in the Northern Territory is a poorly-run branch office of a much bigger organisation which takes its lead from that much bigger organisation. You saw what happened at the last federal budget; Wayne Swan predicted a budget surplus of $1.1bn and it came in at a $19.5bn deficit! We now find even that was an underestimation; it is really a $30bn budget deficit.
You have to wonder how Labor people get themselves into such a mess. Of course they spend, spend, spend. Kevin gave us the stimulus package we needed where he sent out $900 cheques to everyone in Australia - not just everyone in Australia, but people who had been living overseas for years. Kevin even sent $900 cheques to dead people! That is the fiscal strategy of the Labor Party.
We see it in the Northern Territory. The former Treasurer, at the same time, thought, ‘Whoopee doo! We have a wonderful opportunity to start spending money.’ Even when they knew the coffers were bare, they continued to make spending decisions they could not pay for, and we found ourselves coming into government with more than $100m of liabilities every year.
We have done the hard yards and I pay tribute to my colleague, the member for Araluen, who did a fantastic job in the mini-budget in cutting some of that waste. We are driving efficiencies, tightening our belts, and putting the Territory on a firm financial footing.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale for her important question which highlights what happened with the previous government. I will give the example of a recent conversation I had with an old mate of mine, Alexander Downer, the former Foreign minister of this country. Alexander said, ‘You are the Treasurer now. How are you finding the job?’ I said, ‘Alexander, I believe we have inherited the worse fiscal mess of any jurisdiction in the country’. He said, ‘That is not possible. Where I come from in South Australia it is absolutely dreadful; they have a $1bn budget deficit.’ I said, ‘Alexander, you pale into insignificance. We have $900m in the Northern Territory and only 250 000 people live here.’ He almost fell over.
The Labor Party in the Northern Territory is a poorly-run branch office of a much bigger organisation which takes its lead from that much bigger organisation. You saw what happened at the last federal budget; Wayne Swan predicted a budget surplus of $1.1bn and it came in at a $19.5bn deficit! We now find even that was an underestimation; it is really a $30bn budget deficit.
You have to wonder how Labor people get themselves into such a mess. Of course they spend, spend, spend. Kevin gave us the stimulus package we needed where he sent out $900 cheques to everyone in Australia - not just everyone in Australia, but people who had been living overseas for years. Kevin even sent $900 cheques to dead people! That is the fiscal strategy of the Labor Party.
We see it in the Northern Territory. The former Treasurer, at the same time, thought, ‘Whoopee doo! We have a wonderful opportunity to start spending money.’ Even when they knew the coffers were bare, they continued to make spending decisions they could not pay for, and we found ourselves coming into government with more than $100m of liabilities every year.
We have done the hard yards and I pay tribute to my colleague, the member for Araluen, who did a fantastic job in the mini-budget in cutting some of that waste. We are driving efficiencies, tightening our belts, and putting the Territory on a firm financial footing.
Madam SPEAKER: Treasurer, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016