Carr's promises not being met
By Karen Fletcher
In the midst of a close election campaign earlier this year, Bob Carr promised to cut hospital waiting lists in half within one year, immediately abolish toll charges on two motorways, halt logging in identified wilderness areas and open an airport at Badgerys Creek to replace the notorious Kingsford Smith.
Despite the promises, Health Department figures released in July reveal that the length of hospital waiting lists has increased since the election. Not surprisingly, Carr has not repeated his undertaking to resign if this does not change by April 1996.
The government has also "revised" its promise to abolish tolls on the M4 and M5 motorways. It now intends to negotiate with the private owners to offer local residents a toll concession. The minister for roads, Michael Knight, has declared himself "quite relaxed" about the retreat. The cost of keeping the promise has been calculated at around $1.7 billion.
On the promise to halt logging operations, Forest Information Service observers report that logging continues in the Budawangs wilderness area in Croobyar State Forest. The old-growth forests in the Badja State Forest and Wandella Dampier Forest area have also not been protected as promised.
As for the "replacement" airport at Badgerys Creek, the announcement of the federal government's airport privatisation plan just a week after the election left no-one in doubt about the future of that assurance. QANTAS has categorically stated that it will not be moving to Badgerys Creek, and everything now points to a massive expansion of Kingsford Smith and the transfer of its management to private hands.
The Carr government has been more diligent in its implementation of promises announced after the election — especially the pledge to cut $600 million from public spending.
The new ALP government is "restructuring" the electricity and gas industries in line with national competition policy as set out in the Hilmer Report, corporatising a long list of state authorities, increasing the use of external contracts in government departments and introducing case-mix funding to state hospitals.
Ministers have been ordered to slash at least 10% from their departmental administrative budgets, and the future of all "non-core" agencies is under review. These cuts follow the former Liberal government's cuts to public spending of 1% per year.