Page 6266 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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Mr Collaery: That is correct.
MR CONNOLLY: Fair enough. That is correct, so we are all agreed on that. The Act provides a right of appeal from rulings to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, from the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory before a single judge potentially to the Full Court, and from the Full Court potentially to the High Court. So, if the problem is the ruling, there is a right of appeal. So, that cannot be a problem.
Mr Kaine made a statement in his speech which, if he and his Liberal colleagues vote for this, will really expose them in the eyes of the community. After saying that he disagreed with the principle of payroll tax he said, "Well, I have not really had a chance to study Mr Collaery's Bill, but I think it is in favour of what we agree with; so we will vote for it". How can you, Mr Kaine, as a professional accountant, a person who is trained in these financial matters, say that you are going to vote for a tax measure because it might be near enough to or something like what you believe in?
In this type of law, more than any other, it is incumbent upon members to be absolutely sure of what they are voting for. The Leader of the Opposition says that he is not really sure what Mr Collaery's Bill does, but he thinks that because it is against something he is against he is going to vote for it.
Mr Speaker, if the Liberals and the Rally do this, they will stand condemned in the eyes of the Canberra community. The Australian Labor Party could not hope for a better advertisement for a stable majority Labor Government than if you people, in the dying minutes of this Assembly, wipe out a revenue measure that is worth at least a million dollars and, with proper advice around this town, probably two or three million dollars, because people are not silly and not slow about finding ways to legally minimise their tax.
What Mr Collaery is doing is creating a regime in which many people in many industries can legally minimise their tax. Interestingly, he is also creating a system where people who are presently exempt may become liable. So, some people are now going to be hit by a tax by which they were not hit before. But he probably was not aware of that. It is like what we were doing half an hour ago when we had to pull apart a back-of-an-envelope amendment and fix it up.
Mr Speaker, the people of this Territory will express their judgment on this Assembly, and all of us, on 15 February. If this Assembly is prepared to whack through a tax measure like this, with no notice and in the dying hours, the community will judge you people harshly, and properly so.
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