Page 3766 - Week 12 - Thursday, 21 October 1993
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Ms Follett: If it is a dead licence I would produce it and get another one.
MR HUMPHRIES: If you are not going to get another one you cannot do that, can you? You are not going to get another certificate. Supposing that Mrs Bloggs, the age pensioner, suddenly becomes ineligible to receive the pension and loses her entitlement. She has bought her fuel for the year. She loses her entitlement. She will throw the certificate in the bin if it has expired. You are making her liable for a $500 fine because she happens not to send a certificate back to the Government. Obviously, if she wants another certificate it is another matter. She will have her certificate taken away and a new certificate issued if she is eligible. If she is not eligible she will not go through that process, however. Madam Speaker, I would hope that the Independents at least would consider the equity in supporting this amendment.
Mr Kaine: You have to worry about all those grannies with criminal intent.
MR HUMPHRIES: That is right, yes. Obviously, there are lots of evil grannies out there looking to defraud the ACT Government. I hope that Ms Follett is in court when all the grandmothers are up there being charged with breaching her business franchise Bill.
There are a couple of other points that occurred in the course of the debate that I want to come back to, Madam Speaker. One is a suggestion by the Chief Minister that I shopped around for an opinion from the State Revenue Office. I was directed to certain officers by the State Treasurer's office. My offsider, Mr Forshaw, rang one of those officers. I rang back the next day and spoke to a second officer. Both officers gave exactly the same advice to us. I spoke to those officers again today and they were highly embarrassed and apologetic at the fact that the policy of the New South Wales Revenue Office seems to have changed since last Tuesday night.
There is one other point which I think is worth reflecting on. There is at least one person - there probably are several - who owns rural property, rural concerns, in both New South Wales and the ACT. What does that person do when he takes his farm tractor, for example, or his fuel tank in to get a refill of his diesel fuel? What can he do?
Ms Follett: We just exempted farmers.
Mr Lamont: He does not take his fuel tank in. Do you not understand?
MR HUMPHRIES: Whatever he takes in. Look at the principle of this matter. This is an example of a person who operates in both jurisdictions. Take a contractor, for example. It is the same position. They operate in two jurisdictions. How do they distinguish between what they are buying for New South Wales and what they are buying for the ACT? They cannot. Madam Speaker, I am making a last forlorn attempt to get some commonsense in this debate. I urge members to consider that very good question. How do you deal with it?
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