Page 292 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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Mr Lamont: I withdraw that imputation, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: He has withdrawn it. It is just as well, because I did not hear it.
MR WESTENDE: Mr Lamont, of all people, Madam Speaker, should know what it is to provide jobs, or what actions he takes to cost jobs. Madam Speaker, I put it to this Government that a reduction in payroll tax would create far more than 100 places in the work force and not cost the Government anywhere near as much as the Jobskills program. Furthermore, the Jobskills program is a temporary fix, while payroll tax reduction would create continuing employment. I have some experience in this area. Lots of people that are employed for the 12 or 13 weeks that the Jobskills program provides for then get their jobs terminated. A reduction in payroll tax, however, would create permanent jobs and those jobs would not be terminated. It would also draw more business to this town, which is the supposed aim of this Government.
Why not realise some surplus assets by selling them, thereby reducing the need to borrow? Why not sell the Kingston Bus Depot and many other areas where savings could be made and income could be derived? Madam Speaker, does it not strike you as strange that, in the city with the largest per capita income, 13 per cent of our domestic dwellings are publicly owned, while in any other capital city in Australia the ratio is 5 per cent?
Mr Connolly: So, you want to reduce the number of publicly owned dwellings, do you?
MR WESTENDE: Naturally.
Mr Connolly: A great admission! I will send this Hansard out.
MR WESTENDE: Because people want to buy them and you will not let them. You will not let them buy them. Why do we need 13 per cent, when the rest of Australia can do with 5 per cent, in this town where we have the highest per capita income? Could not some of these dwellings be sold to longstanding tenants, to the benefit of both the Government and the tenant?
Mr Connolly: What do we do with the income?
MR WESTENDE: You reduce your borrowings and pay off your debt. You have never run a business, my dear friend; I have. (Extension of time granted)
A former Prime Minister and now current affairs reporter once called on Australia to become the clever country. Well, come on. Why does the Government not want to pursue that? Why does the Government not have the guts to try something new, something entrepreneurial, something that would create many new jobs, thus increasing overall revenue? It would not cost the Government a cent if it used some of those suggestions. Perhaps the Government is totally bereft of imagination.
Madam Speaker, if the Chief Minister is really serious about the statement that I quoted at the beginning, let us see some concrete evidence in the way of positive action. Let us see the consultation process go up a few notches. Let us see the
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