The 2021-22 ACT Budget published yesterday is a band-aid budget to cover up 20 years of mismanagement and complacency by the Labor-Greens Government, the Canberra Liberals claim.
“Canberrans deserve much more than band-aid solutions from a government that is leaving so many in the community behind,” said opposition leader Elizabeth Lee.
Ms Lee, who is also Shadow Treasurer, said this Budget was critical for the ACT’s future – but that once again, all the Labor-Greens Government had offered was smoke and mirrors.
In the Budget, Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the largest infrastructure program in the ACT’s history: a $5 billion pipeline of local infrastructure projects that would keep the construction sector busy for four or five years.
Ms Lee, however, dismissed it as “a flashy headline”. It was only a four per cent increase on what was promised last year, she said.
In the 2020-21 Budget, the ACT Government said it would deliver an Infrastructure Investment Program of $914 million in 2020–21 and $4.3 billion over the four years to 2023–24.
“All the government has done is simply add an extra year to the estimates to make it look bigger and better on a four-year basis,” Ms Lee said.
“Hyperbole and announcements do not create jobs; we know this government is great at announcements, but their track record of delivering on those promises has been lacking.”
Ms Lee said this was highlighted by a massive $250 million underspend in infrastructure projects in last year, which the Chief Minister attempted to blame on industry.
The ACT Government had announced it would spend $767 million on capital works in 2019–20, but the audited budget papers showed they spent only $521 million.
The Budget announced free training places for young people, expanding JobTrainer to provide 2,500 additional places over the next two years. Ms Lee thought this was insufficient.
“There has been a chronic underfunding of skills and training in the ACT, and in this Budget, there is no material commitment to improving and boosting skills and apprenticeships to deliver on these infrastructure projects.”
The Government has provided $475 million in tax grants and concessions since the pandemic began, and will provide a further $8 million for business recovery. But Ms Lee thinks more needs to be done – particularly since many small businesses fear they may close.
“Once again, we see very little for small businesses in the ACT who have borne the economic brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and need support immediately. There is no point in making big announcements if our small businesses do not survive to reap the benefits of those big promises.”
The ACT Government has budgeted more than half a billion dollars over the next four years to provide better healthcare, including expanding the Canberra Hospital and providing more emergency surgery capacity.
Ms Lee said that the health system was already under severe pressure before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ACT lockdown and the incursion of the delta variant had once again exposed its failings.
“For a decade now, spanning three elections, Labor has promised a new hospital and an improved health care system, but it does not appear as though Canberrans will see either of those anytime soon based on this budget,” Ms Lee said.
The Canberra Hospital expansion – the ACT Government’s largest-ever healthcare infrastructure commitment – was first announced in 2016 with a completion date of 2022; the Government now expects to complete it in 2024.
Canberra schools are in chronic need of upgrades, Ms Lee said. (Earlier this year, the Liberals argued that school infrastructure was ageing and under-funded, some schools were in “a dangerous state of disrepair”, and classes were overcrowded.) The government had put forward a band-aid solution of demountable classrooms to help fill the void of overcrowding in schools.
The ACT Government has budgeted $19.8 million on school upgrades and expansions, and $8.969 million on school infrastructure and maintenance.
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