Page 3605 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 19 October 1993
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR HUMPHRIES: No, this is not the issue. I am proposing that you not tax people of any kind for the use of home heating fuel or for other uses of diesel fuel which produce jobs. People are not involved in primary production in the ACT because they happen to like spending lots of time out in the fields with muddy boots on. They do so because they make a living out of it. In many cases they employ other people; they provide jobs in this Territory. That is why the Liberal Party is opposed to this revenue measure. That is why the Liberal Party feels that you are being inequitable in pursuing this measure.
The Chief Minister has said a number of things which cause me to wonder what is going on. She says that the original scheme was provided to allow primary producers an exemption from the payment of diesel fuel. Her solution to this problem has been to remove altogether the exemption from primary producers - a strange solution indeed. The Chief Minister suggested in her presentation speech that suppliers of diesel fuel found some discomfort with the present system. She said:
The current scheme is burdensome to the diesel suppliers ...
We have been in touch with all these suppliers in the ACT and not one has made that point. Not one wants to see this new arrangement put in place. Who are these people who are complaining about the burdensome diesel exemption system? The Chief Minister falls silent. She also said:
... it is difficult to police.
Mr Moore asked a question today about abuse of the present system. The Chief Minister took it on notice. She might have forgotten that she took on notice last week a similar question from me on exactly the same issue. What evidence is there that there is widespread abuse of this system? The fact is that, according to your officers, although this scheme has been in place for some time, there have not been any prosecutions for abuse of this system. Where is the evidence of abuse?
I have no doubt that there is bound to be someone who at some stage is going to use some diesel fuel they have purchased for an on-road purpose. That is bound to happen; it is human nature. But you need more than just an assumption about human nature to be able to prove that there is such wide-scale fraud going on in the application of this system that you are warranted in chucking out the whole system and, in the same breath, imposing a considerable burden on those people in the ACT who depend on diesel fuel for a livelihood or for home heating. I think the Government has not clearly thought through the implications of this decision. It puts us out of sync with New South Wales, it is not socially just, and it will certainly, at the end of the day, cost jobs. I believe that this measure is inequitable and should be opposed by the Assembly.
MR MOORE (8.28): Madam Speaker, I would like to begin my speech at the in-principle stage by reiterating from our election document just what our commitment was for stable government:
guarantee stable government (in a balance of power situation) by guaranteeing support for the Chief Minister in a no-confidence motion and guaranteeing passage of the Supply and Appropriation Bills.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .