Page 2765 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 21 November 1989
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"It could be partially funded by the tax to stop piracy and the distribution of unclassified material".
It is interesting, Mr Speaker, that even people in the industry are concerned about this particular Bill and have pointed out problems with it from their side of the fence.
I think the Government indicated that it intended to raise about $2m from this Bill; we have heard figures up to $5m. The Government, I think, should be more properly concerned with raising revenue from other areas. For example, there could be a $2m refund from COMCARE. In relation to hospitals, we have heard proposals recently in relation to how the board can save about $10m. I am sure, if Mr Berry speaks to Mr Humphries, Mr Humphries can probably tell him how to save a hell of a lot more in the hospital system.
I recently gave some indication of a fidelity trust guarantee fund scheme which would bring in $2.5m. I think the Government has done something different there, but the one I proposed was self-funding and would raise $2.5m. There are many ways of raising money other than by a tax such as this. If one looks at how the ACT is run, one can look at cutting waste, duplication and redundancy rather than a tax of this sort. Incidentally, I noted Robbie Swan was in the audience. I do not think I have had a chance to watch Night Shift Nurses yet.
MR HUMPHRIES (9.02): Mr Speaker, I think Mr Kaine and Mr Stefaniak have already given a very clear indication that the Opposition intends to oppose this Bill and it may well be that, if my reading of the numbers is any indication, this will be the first Bill of this Government rejected by this Assembly. I might say it is not a matter on which I feel any sense of shame or disappointment that this is the first Bill to be rejected. I think it is a good indication, Mr Berry, of the fact that the population of the ACT does not support the course of action which this Government takes. The opinion polls that have been quoted already by Mr Stefaniak indicate quite clearly that people in the ACT do not want this kind of industry to be flourishing and I think that, in the light of that fact, the rejection of this Bill by the Assembly tonight will be very much in accord with the spirit of the Assembly's population.
I want to amplify a few points made by my colleagues. I am not sure that this has occurred during this debate or at other times, but certainly it has been suggested to me that, as Liberals, we ought to be allowing people to have a fairly free rein. They ought to be able to express their views and to view whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes. I know that this kind of view has been expressed as a feature of small "l" liberalism. I think it was Oliver Wendell Holmes, the US jurist, who said that "the right to swing my arm in the air ends at the tip of another man's nose". The question, of course, is whether
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