Mr ZAMMIT: Is the Treasurer and Minister for the Arts aware of claims by the Leader of the Opposition today that New South Wales has lost 27,000 jobs over the past 12 months and that the capital works programs should be boosted to create jobs? Can the Treasurer give an indication of the cost of promises made by the Leader of the Opposition?

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Hurstville to order. I call the honourable member for Londonderry to order for the second time.

Mr COLLINS: That is a timely question, in that since May 1991 the Leader of the Opposition has been running around making promises from one end of this State to the other. Of course, he has done this on the basis that he hopes that none of those promises will ever come home to roost; that no two groups in the community will ever get together and compare notes. We have been doing a bit of checking on some of his promises made since May 1991.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time.

Mr COLLINS: Back in May 1991 the Leader of the Opposition said that Port Macquarie hospital would be built as a public hospital, at an initial cost of $40 million and then a cost of $1.8 million each year. In March 1992 he said he would reopen Kiama hospital at a cost of $8 million a year. In April 1992 he said that he would redevelop Coffs Harbour and District Hospital at a cost of $70 million. He said that he would stop the productivity savings for hospitals - savings that have been redeployed in the health system - at a cost of $75 million a year. He made that promise in December 1991, and the cost so far would have been $150 million. In June 1992 he said that he would add 30,000 bed days each year and boost day surgery by 50 per cent. The cost at the time of the promise was about $90 million a year.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Bega to order.

Mr COLLINS: As the Leader of the Opposition has gone around he has made these promises and he has left people thinking that they were firm, binding promises that he would abide by if he ever became Premier of New South Wales.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Minister for Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs to order.

Mr COLLINS: In June 1992 the Leader of the Opposition talked about a new breast cancer surgery unit at Westmead at a capital cost of $10 million and a further $3 million each year. In December 1992 he spoke about a new public hospital for Hawkesbury at a cost of $60 million. Now, that is just the health area. There is a long list, and we will go through it in detail. We ought to find out what the bottom line is. In regard to education the Leader of the Opposition said, "Reopen all closed schools that have not been sold, as long as they are able to maintain community support and viable re-enrolment". Does any Opposition member remember that promise? We remember the promise made by the Leader of the Opposition in May 1991, and the people to whom he made the promise will remember it. The cost to reopen each of those closed schools would be $30,000 - about $3.1 million in one-off costs.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Kogarah to order.

Mr COLLINS: We all remember the Leader of the Opposition promising to create 2,500 teaching positions over four years, at a cost of $40,000 for each position - about $50 million each year. In May 1991 the Leader of the Opposition said that he would reduce the inter-urban excursion fare from $2 to $1 and that $3 fares would go down to $1. That would cost $1.4 million a year or, since he made the promise, $4.2 million. Then we have the old perennial - the Maldon to Dombarton rail link - back in there, at a cost of $33 million.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Monaro to order.

Mr COLLINS: The Leader of the Opposition said he would acquire 60 new electric buses, the capital cost of which would be $21 million.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Bulli to order for the second time.

Mr COLLINS: In May 1991 he said he would scrap the $10 intrastate twice a year rail charge for senior citizens, at a cost of $4.8 million a year, or $14.4 million so far. In May 1991 he said he would create the new Popran national park, which would take in Crown land, including the peaks of Mount White, Mount Boyne and Mount Olive, located between Mangrove Creek and Mooneys Creek, at a cost so far of about $600,000. In January 1992 he said that he would create a new national park at Bongil Bongil, at a cost of $4.3 million. In regard to roads he said that he would scrap the tolls for the M4 and the M5. It sounds great. It sounds terrific, does it not, until we see the contractual liability of $700 million.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Wallsend to order.

Mr COLLINS: We then get to additional works. It is a long list. In March 1992 he promised additional works for the Pacific Highway at a cost of
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$150 million. Then we have a commitment for $300 million between 1992 and 1997 for Central Coast roads and a further cost of $120 million. The Leader of the Opposition said, "We will not scrap the Government Cleaning Service. We do not need to proceed with that. We do not need to privatise it, though it will cost the State $40 million a year".

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the Deputy Leader of the Opposition to order for the second time.

Mr COLLINS: Let us consider all the promises made in the conservation and land management area. Since the time that these promises were made we are looking at a total of $1.8 billion in costs.

Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for Ku-ring-gai to order. I call the honourable member for Canterbury to order.

Mr COLLINS: No doubt the Leader of the Opposition will detail his program when he delivers his response to the Budget. Some strategists opposite have described the Budget I delivered a week ago as an election budget. I have news for them. The election budget will come next year. Think about that. The Leader of the Opposition said another 27,000 jobs should be created. The honourable member for Drummoyne came in right on cue. A couple of weeks ago Wayne Goss, the Queensland Premier, said if $3.4 billion was spent in capital works, 44,000 jobs would be created. Therefore, adopting the Wayne Goss methodology, last year this Government created 72,000 for $5.6 billion and, not accounting for the advantage on contract prices, this year 71,000 jobs would have been created. However, even more jobs have been created because of a 10 per cent to 15 per cent contract advantage in capital works in the recession, so the money goes further. The taxpayers' dollar goes further and creates more jobs.

Using the Wayne Goss methodology, it would cost an extra $2.1 billion to create another 27,000 jobs. Therefore, in addition to the deficit of $890 million to which this Government is committed in the Budget, further expenditure to date by the Opposition of $1.8 billion - or $1,800 million - on the capital works program, et cetera, that I listed, together with the Opposition's suggestion to create another 27,000 jobs at a cost of another $2.1 billion, the extra debt to the State would be $4.8 billion. What is the Opposition going to do about that? I have two suggestions. If the Opposition was in government, it could either increase taxes or scrap its pledges. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, in the lead-up to the last election, "There are binding promises and there are non-binding promises". What is the difference? He said binding promises are those that are spoken about specifically and are signed in blood during an election campaign, and are witnessed. The non-binding promises consist of all the rest of the promises.

I predict that if the Leader of the Opposition ever had the opportunity to deliver a budget, as Premier and Treasurer, he would do a Keating; he would promise the earth - he will promise whatever you want - but you would need to check the writing because it would fade before election day. If the Leader of the Opposition were Treasurer he would say, "What do you want me to do - increase taxes $4.8 billion to deliver my promises, or can the promises?" It would probably be a combination of both, and very few of those promises would ever see the light of day.