“The Labor-Greens government in the ACT will now be doing all it can to milk the pre-budget opportunity by announcing the amazing investments that they will make when re-elected,” writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.

Budgets rarely provide any surprises. Gone are the days that secrecy surrounded all the details of budgets until the treasurer stood up to make his budget speech.

This is even more critical when a budget is going to be brought down with an election just four months away. 

The Labor-Greens government in the ACT will now be doing all it can to milk the opportunity by announcing the amazing investments that they will make when re-elected.

The announcements are really about how they are using our hard-earned taxpayers’ money.

When my Facebook feed let me know that the ACT government is promising 800 new health workers in our hospitals, I ought to have been jumping for joy. Problems have plagued the hospital system in the ACT for years, taking it from the highest rating in the country to the lowest rating under the years of the Labor government.

The ACT hospital system has been a boiling frog over the Labor years. Little by little the funds have been reduced at the same time as pressure on staff has increased. And now, the government wants to pour cold water on the struggling frog who has been in such demise. Eight hundred new staff. It is a really important start.

But wait! Why wasn’t some of this investment made in previous years when the problems were so obvious? How will you find 800 staff? How many will be nurses? How many doctors? What about support staff? 

The Facebook advertisement (paid for by the Labor Party) raised more questions than answers. There were lovely photos of a happy Chief Minister Andrew Barr and further on the Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith.

Then another post with the Chief Minister at Alinga Street and the caption reinforcing better healthcare. “Labor’s plan to hire 800 more health workers – right across Canberra. That’s more nurses, more doctors and more specialists. And it’ll mean that no matter where you live – you can get the care you need. When and where you need it”.

Keep saying the same thing – again and again and again. And people will believe it. And sing your own praises, “it’s all part of our progressive, practical and proven plan for Canberra”.

Progressive appeals to many in Canberra – but how will you pay for it? This is the government that lost our Standard & Poors AAA+ credit rating.

There will be more details when the ACT Budget is brought down on  June 25. Will the 800 jobs be provided in the first year of the budget. Doubt it! Just not possible! Is the prediction over the out years of the budget – in other words all the new workers employed over a four-year period? Or is the prediction for spending much more into the future?

When budget announcements are made ahead of time, it is not possible to see where the money is coming from, or the extent to which it is future gazing. Promise now, if elected they will try to work out the details.

According to the Facebook post: “Only Labor invests in our healthcare system. And only Labor looks after those who work in it, and those who rely on it”. Time for a fact check: of course Labor has been “investing in our healthcare system”. The question is – to what extent?

Former Labor Chief Minister Jon Stanhope made the facts clear in CityNews recently – “The ACT stands out like a sore thumb with the lowest annual growth in health expenditure at a mere 0.1 per cent”. How does this compare to population growth? Does this include the ambush and takeover of Calvary Hospital?

Labor has invested in our healthcare systems. The facts check out! However, a “mere 0.1 per cent”. According to Mr Stanhope and Dr Khalid Ahmed, “the ACT’s hospital system has been deprived of the necessary beds and staff. Scarcity of resources is adversely impacting every part of the system.” 

What will be the next surprise? Battery driven trams. Getting rid of the ugly overhead wires. Great. And then what? At the last election a Facebook post by Labor claimed only Labor would deliver light rail to Woden. It now turns out that for all of the disruption caused, it will take another couple of elections before the promise is delivered.

With this sort of track record – Canberrans ought to be told just when the 800 nurses, doctors and specialists will be delivered.