Page 3749 - Week 12 - Thursday, 21 October 1993
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Additional information was sought from the ACT Revenue Office and a letter was received from Mr Joe Purcell, the Commissioner of State Taxes for New South Wales, who has the power to take action against New South Wales suppliers of diesel fuel who supply that fuel inappropriately for use in the ACT. It is worth noting, Mr Deputy Speaker, that exemptions from the diesel fuel franchise fee will not be granted for any usage in the ACT.
The other group of people who stand to be disadvantaged by this amendment Bill is residential users. Exemption certificates for home heating in the ACT will now be issued only to holders of health care cards or pensioner health benefits cards. This will place some people, especially superannuants, at a considerable disadvantage in the short term, as they will need to pay more for the diesel fuel heating of their homes. I am sure that this measure will affect most of the 2,374 exemption certificate holders at the present time. Ideally, perhaps a longer timeframe should have been considered for when these measures would come into being. It is anticipated that people who use diesel fuel for the heating of their homes will spend an additional $100 a year for the heating of their homes, or approximately $2 a week over a full year. As I have said, Madam Speaker, I regret that these measures are to come into being at this time but understand that the Government has made its decision to advantage holders of health care cards and pensioner health benefits cards in particular.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, considerable confusion has occurred concerning the measures proposed in this Bill and their likely implications and ramifications. I intend to support the Bill, believing as I do that the Government is entitled to its Supply and Appropriation Bills and revenue measures. However, I will also be supporting the amendments to be proposed by Mr Moore, which will continue to exempt farmers from the payment of the diesel fuel franchise fee.
MR HUMPHRIES (4.01): Madam Speaker, I seek leave to speak again on this matter.
Leave granted.
MR HUMPHRIES: Madam Speaker, I said on Tuesday night that this Bill was a poorly thought through piece of legislation. I must say that, in the intervening 48 hours or so since I said that, I have been given no reason to believe that it is any more well thought through than I thought on Tuesday night. There are, in my view, a very large number of serious flaws in this legislation. I said on Tuesday night that the Bill was inequitable; that it gave us a taxation regime inconsistent with that in New South Wales, despite this Government's protestation that it wants to put the ACT in line with New South Wales on taxation matters; and that for the first time it puts a tax on a form of home heating. Even if you accept the Chief Minister's view that, in fact, there are other forms of taxation on home heating, the tax is very much out of line with the levels of taxation on other forms of home heating - for example, 1.75 per cent on gas. I said that, most especially, these provisions were socially unjust since they targeted people who in many cases are on lower incomes.
Madam Speaker, quite apart from those comments, there has been some debate since Tuesday night on the question of cross-border trade in diesel fuel. The issue seems to have become one of "What exactly is the position where somebody seeks to thwart these provisions by crossing the border and buying
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