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Mr MIKE BAIRD (Manly) [3.50 p.m.]: Not surprisingly when there is an issue of substance, this Government puts out all the spin it can. It forgets about the substance of the issue, which is the very important matter of how we manage the economy. I will admit that I never thought I would see the day when the member for Bathurst and I would get our ties from the same shop, but it appears that today is the day. I do not know how that happened, Bundy, but it did.
The comments we heard from the Premier in question time were a good example of why this Government is in so much trouble, and that is very much linked to why the economy of New South Wales is in so much trouble. He talked about what a great job the Government was doing in relation to rail and that the people of New South Wales should be congratulating the Government on that. However, if members look at CityRail's website today they will find that there are a huge number of disruptions across the network. That is exactly the sort of thing we see daily, week in and week out under this Government. If the Premier went to Hornsby Hospital he would find a hospital that is in crisis. He would be unable to make the claim that this State has the best health system in the world. He needs to understand what people are saying. He referred to The Spit, but if he travelled from Manly, Pittwater or Warringah or wherever into the city at peak hour he would understand the congestion people are facing not only in coming from the northern beaches but also in the south-west and north-west of the city.
No-one can think that this Government is doing a good job, but that is exactly what was being claimed in relation to the economy. We have heard from Eric Roozendaal: he has put out a press release. Standard and Poor's has confirmed the State's triple-A rating, but two months ago that agency said the State would have a triple-A rating for the foreseeable future, so there is no news in that. We do know from a very good source that Eric Roozendaal is making a bid for the leadership. I announced it first. He has his eyes on the seat of the member for Coogee. The member for Coogee is not here but I understand Eric Roozendaal is interested in that seat. You heard it here first: that is where he is going.
If Eric is going to be the Leader of the Government in the upper House and eventually leader of the Government he needs to be much more concise and accurate in his quotes, because he chose a few words out of what Standard and Poor's said. He missed this bit from what Standard and Poor's said today: there is a minimal tolerance at this rating level—that is, keeping the rating—for a structural weakening of projected finances as this would be an indication of fiscal flexibility. That means that if the Government does certain things the triple-A rating will be at risk. One of them is particularly pertinent: it refers to the Government materially failing to deliver on proposed savings measures.
We really need to go through the history of this Government in relation to proposed savings measures because it is entirely relevant. In 2006-07 expense growth under this Government was 7.9 per cent; in 2007-08 it was 5.7 per cent; and last year it was 8 per cent. Next year it is projected to be 7.6 per cent. Overall, the average expense growth is 7.3 per cent, but at the very time the State is supposed to go back into surplus, in 2011, it will miraculously drop back to 2.8 per cent. We are supposed to believe that a Government that has averaged 7.3 per cent in expense growth is going to cut expense growth to 2.8 per cent. It is just not going to happen. The people of New South Wales need to understand that Eric Roozendaal has shifted all the problems into an election year and claims he will achieve expense growth unlike anything that has been achieved in the last 20 years. He will not be able to do it. The triple-A rating will obviously be at risk if this Government does not deliver. That is the truth.
We also had a mini-budget six months before the budget was brought down. In the mini-budget it was claimed that expense growth would be 4.9 per cent. That was the projected forecast and the outcome was 8 per cent—so there was a 3 per cent error in just over six months. That is what we saw from Eric Roozendaal. I do not want to go through all the details of what people have said about management of the economy. We know there was a mini-budget and that the Premier himself said in February, "If we had known then what we know now we would have done things differently." That is, the mini-budget was a disaster.
Figures relating to State final demand have been released today and, yes, we have moved forward. I acknowledge that New South Wales growth has moved forward, but the important point is that we still lag behind just about every other State. Victoria's growth was 3 per cent, Tasmania's was 2.2 per cent, Western Australia's was 1.6 per cent, South Australia's was 1.3 per cent, and this State's growth was 0.5 per cent. The question for the people of New South Wales is: Are we happy to accept second worst? The people are saying they are not happy. We want to get to a position where we do not limp out of recession, which is what we appear to be doing. Ultimately that will be nothing to do with this Government. The member for Bathurst talked about infrastructure spend, but New South Wales was the only State that went backwards last year once the money from the Rudd Government is excluded from the equation. It went backwards in material terms. This Government has done nothing materially. We also heard comments about business confidence. The Sensis business confidence index measures businesses across the country. Every State is covered. For 22 consecutive quarters New South Wales has had the lowest ranking.
Ms Angela D'Amore: Stop talking down New South Wales.
Mr MIKE BAIRD: I am not talking it down; I am telling you what businesses across this State are saying. They said this Government did not understand the needs of small business. There was a perception that the Government was not doing anything, did not know what it was doing and that the Government's payroll tax policies continued to disadvantage them. That is why we have been last for 22 quarters. That is why today New South Wales is limping out of recession. It is because this Government deals in spin and not the facts. We have the plans. We have told the Government it should cut payroll tax for 12 months by up to 15 or 20 per cent, particularly in areas of highest unemployment. The Government should establish Infrastructure New South Wales. It is time that projects that have been announced began to be delivered. We have put forward a framework that establishes infrastructure and will get it built. The Government also needs to start reducing the lead times for delivering that infrastructure. If the Government did those things New South Wales would not be limping out of recession; it would be leading the pack.
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