ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja has hit back against Andrew Barr's attack targeting the federal government's spending on Canberra, telling the Chief Minister to stop shifting blame for the territory's finances.
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After Mr Barr spoke at length while handing down the ACT budget on Tuesday about a "significant" gulf in Commonwealth infrastructure spending in Canberra, Senator Seselja called on the Chief Minister to justify rates and tax increases.
"Andrew Barr is now trying to blame everyone else for his mismanagement," Senator Seselja said.
He said Mr Barr was trying to blame others for rates rises, the ACT government's cuts to and mismanagement of the health system, and for the Chief Minister's "infrastructure fails".
Senator Seselja said the Coalition had doubled hospital funding since coming to government in 2013 and was spending more on services in the ACT while cutting taxes.
"It's time that Mr Barr stops blaming his massive tax slug and inadequate service delivery on others, and address his own mismanagement," he said.
Mr Barr took aim at the federal government in an address to media on Tuesday, framing his controversial program of tax reform as a way of bracing the ACT against an indifferent Commonwealth government and economic headwinds.
He also criticised the Coalition over a lack of infrastructure spending in the territory, saying that only Western Australia and NSW received similarly small levels of Commonwealth contributions to their state budgets.
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Federal Labor promised more spending on the ACT but since its election loss, Mr Barr has had to discard his assumptions the budget would be delivered under a Shorten government and has said the Coalition is shortchanging Canberrans.
Despite earlier forecasting a deficit of about $28 million in 2019-20, the deterioration in the financial situation since the mid-year update has forced Mr Barr to revise the figure to $89 million.
Debt is increasing as ACT government spending outstrips revenue. In 2019-20, revenue will be up by $200 million to $5.9 billion, while spending will be up $400 million to $6.2 billion.
The ACT budget detailed another rates hike for Canberra homeowners but Mr Barr said the "heaviest lifting" of his tax reform had passed.
Opposition Leader Alistair Coe in his budget reply speech on Thursday promised the Liberals will cap residential rates for an entire first term if the party wins government in 2020.