Mr REED - 2001-10-17
Madam Speaker, Labor has said it will adopt a counter cyclical capital works program. I would like the minister to advise the Chamber what he thinks this is and how it will work, and how will the minister predict the cycles and how then, in turn, will he respond to them?
ANSWER
I welcome the question from the former Treasurer and now the shadow spokesman. What we have is a question that the shadow minister is asking of a government and a minister who has been in for some six weeks. Nevertheless, the capital works program we have inherited, as you understand - and we have made it quite clear to you that when we start balancing the books, the books that were handed over to us by your previous government …
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The point of order is that it has nothing to do with the capital works program per se as it currently exists. The question was related specifically and directly to the fact that Labor had a policy of a counter cyclical program for their capital works programs in the future, and would the minister be able to explain what that policy is, how it will work and how he is going to predict the future as to how it will be applied.
Madam SPEAKER: We know the question. Minister, would you please address the question.
Mr AH KIT: Madam Speaker, I am addressing the question in the sense that the question relates to the budget deficit that we have inherited. The budget deficit that we have inherited, for capital works, as our election promises …
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker. It has nothing to do with budget deficits or capital works programs. It has to do with Labor policy.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Mr AH KIT: The capital works program, as we promised, will continue. We have inherited a budget deficit. The cycle is there in place. We are reviewing the operations of the previous government and when we do that, we will have in place a program that will work, and work effectively. We have inherited a lot of headaches from the previous CLP government, and there are a lot of rules that they applied that are no longer relevant. We have, in the previous six weeks, had to go back and have a look at many of those. What we are doing is, we will put together a proper capital works program that can be funded accordingly. At the moment, we have a budget deficit problem that we have to get on top of.
Mr REED: A supplementary question, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: What is your supplementary question?
Mr REED: The answer that has been provided by the minister has nothing to do with what happened in the past. It is all to do with Labor’s policy that they took to the election and could we have it explained.
Madam SPEAKER: We know that. Do you have another question? No - no supplementary question.
ANSWER
I welcome the question from the former Treasurer and now the shadow spokesman. What we have is a question that the shadow minister is asking of a government and a minister who has been in for some six weeks. Nevertheless, the capital works program we have inherited, as you understand - and we have made it quite clear to you that when we start balancing the books, the books that were handed over to us by your previous government …
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The point of order is that it has nothing to do with the capital works program per se as it currently exists. The question was related specifically and directly to the fact that Labor had a policy of a counter cyclical program for their capital works programs in the future, and would the minister be able to explain what that policy is, how it will work and how he is going to predict the future as to how it will be applied.
Madam SPEAKER: We know the question. Minister, would you please address the question.
Mr AH KIT: Madam Speaker, I am addressing the question in the sense that the question relates to the budget deficit that we have inherited. The budget deficit that we have inherited, for capital works, as our election promises …
Mr REED: A point of order, Madam Speaker. It has nothing to do with budget deficits or capital works programs. It has to do with Labor policy.
Madam SPEAKER: That is not a point of order.
Mr AH KIT: The capital works program, as we promised, will continue. We have inherited a budget deficit. The cycle is there in place. We are reviewing the operations of the previous government and when we do that, we will have in place a program that will work, and work effectively. We have inherited a lot of headaches from the previous CLP government, and there are a lot of rules that they applied that are no longer relevant. We have, in the previous six weeks, had to go back and have a look at many of those. What we are doing is, we will put together a proper capital works program that can be funded accordingly. At the moment, we have a budget deficit problem that we have to get on top of.
Mr REED: A supplementary question, Madam Speaker.
Madam SPEAKER: What is your supplementary question?
Mr REED: The answer that has been provided by the minister has nothing to do with what happened in the past. It is all to do with Labor’s policy that they took to the election and could we have it explained.
Madam SPEAKER: We know that. Do you have another question? No - no supplementary question.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016