Page 2595 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 1994
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
ACTTAB - Contract with VITAB Ltd
MRS CARNELL: My question without notice is to the Chief Minister and Treasurer. I refer the Chief Minister to a press conference last week in which she supported Mr Lamont's claim that the $3.3m payout to VITAB would not cost the ACT taxpayer anything because it would be borrowed from and repaid to Treasury. Is it not true that currently all ACTTAB's profits, assuming that there are any, are split between the Government and the racing industry? Which of these bodies will miss out when ACTTAB's profits are siphoned off to pay for the Government's mistakes?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, there are two issues here that have escaped Mrs Carnell. The first is that the $3.3m is a loan from ACTBIT to ACTTAB and it will be repaid.
Mr De Domenico: By whom?
MS FOLLETT: By ACTTAB. I can say, as Treasurer, that it is my view that, as ACTTAB got themselves into the VITAB agreement, it is only fair that they should pay to get out of it. The other issue that has escaped Mrs Carnell is the fact that the Government derives its income from ACTTAB not from dividends derived from profit but through a percentage of the gross betting turnover. So we do not rely on receiving a dividend from the TAB which would be dependent on a net profit result.
Members interjected.
MS FOLLETT: The fact is that that $3.3m loan will have to be repaid by ACTTAB from their operating expenses, and it is up to them to ensure that their - - -
Mr Berry: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. The Chief Minister is trying her best to answer this question and she is being continually harassed by Mr Humphries, who has demonstrated that he is pretty good at harassing people, and a couple of others thrown in as well.
MADAM SPEAKER: Members of the Opposition will come to order.
MS FOLLETT: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have virtually concluded my remarks. As I was saying, that $3.3m will have to be found by ACTTAB over the period of the loan from their operating expenses and not in a way that would affect the return to the Government from ACTTAB's turnover.
MRS CARNELL: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. If the TAB is paying back ACTBIT from its operating expenses, can you guarantee that neither the Government nor the racing industry will receive less money as a result of those repayments?
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