Page 2448 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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There is no question that the Government is not behind this industry, or that the Government is not supporting this industry. But we do say, "We do not want international arms bazaars". That is a pretty clear distinction between international arms fairs and anything else. I think that the community understands it, I know that the industry understands it, and I say that we are losing little or nothing. The Opposition will say, "But we get lots of revenue for this". Well, here is something to think about, Liberal division. What is our gain in holding Aidex? What is the actual dollar going to the Government? You will say that it is about a $40,000 rent for Natex. What does it cost to police it and who pays the dollar; who pays the cost? I will tell you who pays the cost. The ACT taxpayer pays the cost.
I asked the Federal Police, "What does it cost to police Natex?". That is not a question that had been previously asked. I asked it today and it was rather difficult to give me a bottom line. But what they could tell me was that last time around there was something like 600 hours of overtime worked just at Aidex, which roughly translates to $20,000 of overtime alone. You can probably double that for the ordinary salary levels, so there is $40,000. So, there is our revenue gone straightaway to the police budget. You then have to consider, when we have police officers out on point duty at Aidex for three or four days, that they have to be replaced or additional overtime has to be done in their ordinary community policing roles.
So, I would confidently assert - I will try to calculate this further if it comes up either in a question in this Assembly or through the Estimates Committee, which would be a good way to assure us - that just on the question of policing costs it actually costs the ACT Government more for Aidex to be here than if it is not here. So, the economics of the Opposition are ludicrous. This is hardly a revenue earner for the ACT. But even if it were - and this is the moral position that the Government is taking - we say that there are cases where the Government is right in saying, "This is not an issue about dollars and cents; we believe that it is inappropriate for the Australian Capital Territory to be promoting the international arms trade".
That is our position. We are proud to justify it in this Assembly, in this community and indeed, hopefully, at the ballot box next February. We are convinced that the community is behind us on this issue and, as I said at the outset, I am proud to be a member of the Australian Labor Party in an Australian Labor Party government that has made this courageous decision which is a pointer for the rest of Australia.
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