Page 2058 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 25 October 1989
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But CARD does hold a contrary view. CARD believes that it is a disincentive, and so its policy is very firmly opposed to payroll tax and its payroll tax position is to eliminate it altogether.
I would submit to you, Mr Speaker, and to members of the Assembly that the aborted attempt by Mr Collaery to gag this debate today is part of his commitment to the CARD philosophy, either witting or unwitting. I cannot judge whether Mr Collaery is witting or unwitting, but he has either a witting or an unwitting commitment to CARD's position, which is the ultimate elimination of payroll tax. So what I am suggesting is that Mr Collaery very carefully consider his position in relation to this matter, to ensure that he is not wittingly or unwittingly being used by CARD in their legitimate efforts to have payroll tax eliminated altogether.
Mr Collaery: Exactly, so why do you not agree to adjourn it?
MR WHALAN: The effect of this is that it is the Government's view that this legislation should be disposed of today for very obvious reasons. You will find in the briefing notes that you have studied so closely that the legislation was proposed to become effective as from 1 November. A delay today would make such an implementation impossible and would deny revenue to the Treasury as a result.
Mr Kaine: What about the last three months' revenue? Did that not matter? Is it only the revenue from now that matters?
MR WHALAN: This has been on the notice paper since 28 September to allow members opposite the opportunity to study this and to consult with people who might be concerned. I would expect that the normal process of members opposite, when they have an item of legislation such as this, the day it was introduced by the Treasurer into the Assembly, would be that they would immediately be on the telephone to the Chamber of Commerce, to CARD and to the Master Builders Association to say, "We've got this piece of legislation. What do you guys think about it?".
Mr Speaker, what the Chief Minister will outline are the details of the consultation process that did in fact take place. That is not my responsibility here. What I wish to highlight is Mr Collaery's failure in relation to his constituency within the private sector, that private sector that he supports so strongly in terms of his pro-development stance. Mr Collaery had this legislation on 28 September when it was introduced.
We had a meeting on Monday night of this week, when the business of the Assembly was discussed. We had invitations from the Chief Minister to every single member of the
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