Page 180 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 February 1990
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Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I previously raised a point of order on this issue. The matter before the Assembly is two taxation Bills, not the complaint by Ms Follett.
MR SPEAKER: Your point of order is upheld. Please address the motion before the house, Minister.
MR COLLAERY: Mr Speaker, the Bills in question were brought forward by the Administration. Importantly, the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Bill was brought forward as a matter of automatic review of legislation by the Administration, not as a result, I would suggest, of any political direction. To claim, as politicians, that we bring forward such important legislation as the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Bill with this level of complexity, as members will appreciate, is to underestimate the role and the continuing monitoring role of the Administration. Clearly, Mr Speaker, these Bills do not belong to any particular political persuasion. The constant attempt of the other side to put a political, ideological complexion to legislation and the normal machinery of government moves in this Assembly is leading to further disruption in the Assembly.
This rates and land tax Bill, which is taken concurrently with another piece of legislation, reflects the move and integration of the administrative areas responsible for State-type taxation and municipal rating laws. These Bills recognise the move towards self-sufficiency and self-regulation in this Territory.
They indicate that our under-treasurer, his staff and others in the stamp duties collection service are now no longer reacting to Federal Treasury or Federal Finance initiatives in the area of the collection of revenue. The Territory is now starting to look to ways of raising revenue, and I compliment the administrators behind moves to bring these draft Bills forward for the attention of the Assembly as a whole.
The Bills may be minor, as was described by one speaker; they may be machinery Bills, but they are the first message to the people of Canberra that clearly there will be bipartisan support for the collection of revenue and the tightening up of any systems of evasion or avoidance activities in the nature of sales tax and other rating collection activities.
There is an interesting aspect to one of the Bills to which I should draw attention, and that is that powers of inspection have been expanded in section 6 of the Taxation (Administration) (Amendment) Act to provide for an inspector to inspect an X-rated video on premises and to seize any X-rated video that the tax officer believes on reasonable grounds to be connected with an offence against the tax law. I think that is significant because there are some references there to the Business Franchise ("X" Videos) Act 1989 in section 6, paragraph (d), of the Act. That Bill is yet to receive the support of this Assembly.
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