Vic: Vic Libs pledge budget refom

AAP General News (Australia)
04-04-2004
Vic: Vic Libs pledge budget refom

By Renee Barnes

MELBOURNE, April 4 AAP - The Victorian Liberal party today vowed to introduce financial
management reforms which would ensure more transparent and accountable budget papers.

Liberal leader Robert Doyle used his address at the party's state council to attack
the government's economic record and outline Liberal policy for a "higher standard of
good management and accountability" of state budgets.

"We will require government to come back to parliament for authorisation whenever expenditure
exceeds appropriate budget estimates," he told delegates.

"This will put an end to the Labor trick of misuse of legislatively-sanctioned contingency
funds to fund their blowouts and other spending increases."

He said the party would also require budget papers to fully disclose what public money
is spent on and what that money achieved.

"The budget papers should tell Victorians how many children are being educated in government
schools, how many teachers we employ and more accurately indicate how students are performing
in key areas such as literacy and numeracy," he said.

"We will publish in our budget papers clear and auditable measures of the standards
of services that Victorians are receiving."

Mr Doyle also used his speech to pledge relief from land tax, which he said was "crippling
thousands of small businesses across the state and driving investment away from Victoria".

"We will immediately amend the law relating to land tax so that taxpayers can lodge
objections to land tax valuations at the time they receive their land tax assessments,
rather than only being allowed to object at the time they receive their council rate notices."

But he refused to be drawn on whether the party would reduce the rate of land tax.

"The quantum of what we will do will depend entirely on the state of the state's finances
in 2006 and we'll have a very clear idea then on what we can do, but we'll do as much
as we can," he told reporters.

"I can't be drawn and won't be drawn on specifically how we'll do it."

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KEYWORD: LIBS VIC

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