Page 2259 - Week 08 - Thursday, 7 June 1990
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cannot continue to be the vehicle for one-sided views and single-issue matters of concern as Mr Stevenson sees them. I have arranged for a researcher on my staff to analyse Mr Stevenson's speeches in the Assembly since he was admitted here. He certainly takes a selective view of the issues that he cares to speak on. For example, Mr Stevenson attacks the multifunction polis on grounds that Bruce Ruxton supports, and he attacks the Government's move to agree to the Federal Government having Australia become a signatory to the UN declaration on the rights of the child. He believed in certain issues relating to that convention. He had the right to speak on it, of course.
There is a considerable correlation between the issues Mr Stevenson has raised in this Assembly and those that are of a legitimate concern to ordinary Australians - for example, Japanese investment, the greenhouse effect, child abuse, and pornography. These are the same views that I have seen in certain publications in this country that I have alluded to in the past. These views are catalogued in those journals that I have referred to in the past. By extremist language and somewhat irrational viewpoints, they fuel perceptions on issues that are not shared by what I firmly and confidently say is the majority of the Australian population.
Mr Speaker, government is about the practical and government is about the acceptance of community values. Mr Stevenson made a high moral attack on this Chief Minister concerning the franchising, as he says, of flesh. I invite Mr Stevenson to look at the current Australian Taxation Office guidelines on workers in sex employment. I will table this in a moment, Mr Speaker. I will read from it:
The Deputy Commissioner of Taxation (Canberra Office), in response to inquiries concerning the application of Taxation Legislation to workers in the sex industry has advised that the principal effects of the legislation on prostitutes is as follows:
1) Prostitutes working in brothels are considered to be subject to the pay as you earn (PAYE) provisions of the Tax Act. In consequence prostitutes will need to complete an Employment Declaration form and your employer will commence to make tax instalment deductions at prescribed rates from your wages ...
2) Prostitutes have an obligation to lodge an income tax return ...
The explanatory memoranda provided in another publication indicate that the deductions allowed include such items as evening dresses, bondage gear, lingerie and the rest. Now, since Mr Stevenson is ultimately paid by the division of consolidated revenue, I invite him to say whether he sees any conflict in his accepting a salary to serve in this
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