Page 2451 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 7 August 1990
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MR COLLAERY (Attorney-General) (8.09): Mr Acting Speaker, I have never heard such nonsense in the time I have been in the Assembly. I say that with great respect to Mr Connolly, but it is a most extraordinary event. I will proceed, and I trust that when members of the Opposition post copies of Hansard to whatever mates they have in the small business sector they will not cut out my remarks and will have the courage to send them, too.
The Government endorsed the findings of the relevant committee, but it went further to strengthen them. Mr Connolly has made some pious statements about the power differences between tenants and landlords. That sort of doctrinaire statement does little to advance the causes of either party - the landlord or the small business tenant. The vast majority of small business tenants in this Territory look to the Alliance Government with favour in relation to this issue.
Mr Acting Speaker, I was present at the first of the working party meetings that was held between the respective parties and the Consumer Affairs Bureau and the elements of the Chief Minister's Department involved in developing the fair trading legislation. That is certainly under way at the moment. If the Stalinist clique opposite had allowed me to table our legislation program there, there would have been ample proof of the priority that we place on the introduction of this legislation.
Firstly, Mr Acting Speaker, Mr Connolly said that the Labor Party has always supported this legislation. I do not know what he is talking about. I have looked through its election policies. I find under the heading "Consumer Affairs" a bald statement that this will be achieved. It states:
Food is the most basic consumer item and an ACT Labor Government will ensure that Canberrans have high quality and affordable food products. This will be achieved by:
- introducing the Food Ordinance; and
- making full use of the price watch network.
In that same context the Labor Party refers to investigating the introduction of class actions for large scale consumer grievances in order to lower legal costs and introduce fair trading legislation. This is at paragraph 18 of their election thing. Firstly, there is the Stalinist manifesto - investigate the introduction of class action for large scale consumer grievances. This is the class warfare mentality of those opposite us.
Then it goes on to introduce fair trading legislation. I do not believe the member opposite knows what he is talking about. Fair trading legislation in that context is out of context. I use the Chief Minister's words in another document which he has issued to the Commercial and Retail Tenants Association:
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