Mr BAILEY - 1997-05-01
Is it not a fact that, after the 1987 election, the Country Liberal Party administration so badly savaged the public service by cutting its conditions that public servants rioted in front of the Legislative Assembly? After the 1990 election, the Country Liberal Party administration introduced the infamous Estimates Review Committee that cut 1600 jobs and slashed health and education funding. Following the 1994 election, the Country Liberal Party administration increased taxes and charges in what was the nation's highest tax grab by any government. Is it not a fact that Access Economics and the Institute of Public Affairs are warning Territorians that, if the Country Liberal Party wins the next election, they should expect another round of the usual post-election slashing and grabbing?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, we are today celebrating a budget, brought down yesterday, that will take Territorians into the future with prosperity, with opportunities for employment, with opportunities for increased levels of service from the government, and with opportunities to maintain their wonderful lifestyle. Members opposite should be celebrating that. They should not be focusing on what happened 11 years ago. That is where the shadow treasurer is. The opposition is living in `yesterdecade', not yesterday. It is unable to focus on what is happening this year. It is talking about what happened 11 years ago. That demonstrates clearly where its priorities are. It does not have the capacity to focus on here, today - real time - let alone to plan for the future of Territorians, or even to recognise a budget that focuses on the present and future needs of Territorians.
As for analytical commentary, commentators have not had a chance yet to look comprehensively at this budget. They will in due course. We do not expect for a moment that all political or financial analysts will be supportive of the budget. They never have been and never will be. I ask the members opposite to consider just one point. All of those doom-and-gloom stories have been presented by one group or another, particularly by themselves: `Doom is upon us. The end is nigh. We are all going to go broke'. This budget includes high levels of expenditure in the areas of need and will maintain our lifestyle. It caters for a reduction of debt over the next 3 years and it complies with our fiscal strategy. It is an entirely responsible budget. As they have been in the past, their stories of doom and gloom are wrong.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, we are today celebrating a budget, brought down yesterday, that will take Territorians into the future with prosperity, with opportunities for employment, with opportunities for increased levels of service from the government, and with opportunities to maintain their wonderful lifestyle. Members opposite should be celebrating that. They should not be focusing on what happened 11 years ago. That is where the shadow treasurer is. The opposition is living in `yesterdecade', not yesterday. It is unable to focus on what is happening this year. It is talking about what happened 11 years ago. That demonstrates clearly where its priorities are. It does not have the capacity to focus on here, today - real time - let alone to plan for the future of Territorians, or even to recognise a budget that focuses on the present and future needs of Territorians.
As for analytical commentary, commentators have not had a chance yet to look comprehensively at this budget. They will in due course. We do not expect for a moment that all political or financial analysts will be supportive of the budget. They never have been and never will be. I ask the members opposite to consider just one point. All of those doom-and-gloom stories have been presented by one group or another, particularly by themselves: `Doom is upon us. The end is nigh. We are all going to go broke'. This budget includes high levels of expenditure in the areas of need and will maintain our lifestyle. It caters for a reduction of debt over the next 3 years and it complies with our fiscal strategy. It is an entirely responsible budget. As they have been in the past, their stories of doom and gloom are wrong.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016