Page 297 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 12 May 1992
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It is a fact that in the most recent Follett budget the ACT Labor Party increased business taxation by 17 per cent. That is made up by an extra $3.4m in general rates; a $6.6m increase in land tax, showing the extension of the land tax to residential rental property; a $5m increase in payroll tax; a $6.5m increase in conveyancing duty; a 28 per cent increase in insurance stamp duty to $1.6m; a $1.7m increase in stamp duty on motor vehicles; a $345,000 increase in stamp duty on commercial leases and change of liability to lessors; a $4.1m increase in petroleum franchise fees which flow on into petrol pricing; a $4.8m increase in tobacco franchising fees; an additional $7m, being a 40 per cent increase in financial institutions duty; and a $7.2m or 24 per cent increase in motor vehicle registration revenue. To then say, "We have kept increases in taxation to a minimum. In particular, we have avoided hurting the local business sector", is at best naive and at worst an insult to the intelligence and dignity of the 10,000 people who are unemployed.
But what can Canberrans expect from an ACT Labor Government? Let us quickly look at their platform. Once again other people opposite have said that the Liberal Party concealed what we were going to do, but what did the Labor Party conceal? What is not in there? We did not get to hear about a free-standing abortion clinic. We did not get to hear about introducing May Day - note May Day - as a public holiday in the ACT. I do not know whether the faceless men in Belconnen would agree, because there are more moves over there than Boris Spassky has. But let us look at what Labor did not tell us.
I have just mentioned a couple of things; I have not finished yet, though. They also refer in their platform to public enterprises, using nationalisation where appropriate. That is what they say in their platform. We also know, by the way, that the first and most important thing that the Labor Party document says - and Canberrans should know this - is that all members of the ACT legislature will be bound by the ALP platform and policy decisions of conference and the branch council.
Obviously we all know, but the Chief Minister does not tell us in this document, this vision for Canberra, that the vision for Canberra in this Government is a vision that is controlled by the Socialist Left. There are various factions - "various clans", perhaps, is a better phrase to use - in the Socialist Left as well. What I am saying, Madam Speaker, is this: What is the use of owning shares in ACT Inc. when you do not have a job, when eventually ACT Inc. will go broke? If you do not have to pay for it, your kids will. I am sure that we realise the dimensions of the unemployment problem, especially youth unemployment. My colleagues quite adequately and quite eloquently covered that this afternoon.
Madam Speaker, I have described the past and the present. For the sake of our credibility, but more importantly for the future of our young people, I would now like to set the scene for the future, which can be best summarised by saying that Canberra governments can create jobs and that an ACT Liberal government certainly would have done various things that would create jobs. Creating jobs, and real jobs for the future, is the most important challenge facing Canberra. The most important issue we have today is jobs, jobs and more jobs.
My colleagues have talked about payroll tax; so I am not going to go through that again, except to say that, whilst a lot of people laugh at the fact that we talk about payroll tax, payroll tax is a tax on employment. It does make Australian goods and services less competitive. It is complex to administer and its calculation,
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