Mr BARRETT - 2014-05-13
It has been well-documented that this government and Territorians were left a forecast $5.5bn debt to pay off by the former Labor Treasurer who sits opposite. This debt had an interest bill of $425m per year. Can the Treasurer tell members of this House what has been the success of the Country Liberals debt reduction strategy?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. He is very interested in the fiscal strategy this government is undertaking and I appreciate his interest.
He is dead right; I think everybody in the Territory now knows we were facing a forecast debt of $5.5bn. A forecast left to us by the previous Treasurer who sits opposite.
The debt had an interest bill of $425m per year. The budget deficit left to 230 000 people was over $1bn. That was what the Opposition Leader’s Pre-election Fiscal Outlook showed.
It is on the record in black and white. We were shocked and horrified at the state of the books and the mess we inherited when we came into government; it was appalling.
The Opposition Leader does not want to hear this, because it is a direct reflection on the way she carried on when she was in government.
Ms Lawrie: Bring it on; I am proud of my track record.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, cease interjecting!
Mr TOLLNER: She cannot help it.
Dealing with the legacy left by the Opposition Leader is a big task. It has taken enormous effort across government to wind down our spending. It has been somewhat of a miracle that we came into government, saw the debt and deficit and what we were paying in interest – it is a miracle to get to the situation we are in.
I will not go into what is in the budget now as I will do that at 11 am. There has been a concerted effort across government by ministers and agency heads to reduce spending. We thought there would be massive cuts to services and reductions in staffing numbers across the Territory, but this is not the case. By focusing on efficiencies and eliminating waste we have saved enormous amounts of money in spending. Admittedly, we have some boosts from revenue; however, the real work has been done by getting all those little rats and mice together, which comes to an enormous number.
I pay tribute and thanks to all my colleagues for their hard work in keeping the brakes on spending across government. We are delivering a first-class budget which maintains all the services people expect, with reduced spending. That is giving us money to put toward new services.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. He is very interested in the fiscal strategy this government is undertaking and I appreciate his interest.
He is dead right; I think everybody in the Territory now knows we were facing a forecast debt of $5.5bn. A forecast left to us by the previous Treasurer who sits opposite.
The debt had an interest bill of $425m per year. The budget deficit left to 230 000 people was over $1bn. That was what the Opposition Leader’s Pre-election Fiscal Outlook showed.
It is on the record in black and white. We were shocked and horrified at the state of the books and the mess we inherited when we came into government; it was appalling.
The Opposition Leader does not want to hear this, because it is a direct reflection on the way she carried on when she was in government.
Ms Lawrie: Bring it on; I am proud of my track record.
Madam SPEAKER: Opposition Leader, cease interjecting!
Mr TOLLNER: She cannot help it.
Dealing with the legacy left by the Opposition Leader is a big task. It has taken enormous effort across government to wind down our spending. It has been somewhat of a miracle that we came into government, saw the debt and deficit and what we were paying in interest – it is a miracle to get to the situation we are in.
I will not go into what is in the budget now as I will do that at 11 am. There has been a concerted effort across government by ministers and agency heads to reduce spending. We thought there would be massive cuts to services and reductions in staffing numbers across the Territory, but this is not the case. By focusing on efficiencies and eliminating waste we have saved enormous amounts of money in spending. Admittedly, we have some boosts from revenue; however, the real work has been done by getting all those little rats and mice together, which comes to an enormous number.
I pay tribute and thanks to all my colleagues for their hard work in keeping the brakes on spending across government. We are delivering a first-class budget which maintains all the services people expect, with reduced spending. That is giving us money to put toward new services.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016