Page 3045 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 September 1994
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
"Now, wait, wait; there is more". That is not enough. She will also throw in $5m worth of tourism promotion. As they say at the end of the Demtel ad, and in Kate's case, "This will come with Kate's guaranteed, fixed price delivery charge of a poll tax of $100 for every household". That is the only way she could pay for some of the things that she has promised the people in this town. When she says that she knows about business, I often wonder whether she has ever added up what she has promised and how she is then going to save all this money.
The Liberals are clearly cut by the incisive and damning nature of the dissenting comments by Annette Ellis and me. Look at where the botching of this inquiry has occurred - on this issue of compensation. The majority committee report is factually wrong in referring to the scheme, in paragraph 7.19, as compensating businesses for political decisions. These schemes were not set up on this basis, particularly for the passenger motor vehicle and textile, clothing and footwear industries. No owners in these industries were compensated for the changed tariff arrangements or the micro-economic reform. There were and are schemes operating for labour adjustments or industry efficient pilot programs, but no money is being used to compensate any businesses for changes in this policy.
Some of the programs referred to were announced well in advance - such as three years for the TCF program - which provided industry with a significant lead time to adjust. The petrol industry has been on notice since self-government to lower the retail price of petrol or face the consequences. The Minister told the industry that time and time again. It chose to ignore the Government by keeping prices up, particularly around long weekends and holiday periods. It must now face the music. They talked about a level playing field. There was a level playing field before, so this is ridiculous.
Franchise arrangements were mentioned. Evidence from the inquiry raised many important issues relating to the competitiveness of the petrol retailing industry in the ACT. The majority of the committee appears to accept that the business rules within the industry are the same as those for other industries. At a regulatory and commercial level, competitors are not free to come and go as they please. This should be contrasted with highly competitive sectors like video rental or home delivered pizzas, where businesses are free to set up and leave, with minimal legislative regulations and unparalleled commercial freedom. It should also be noted that real prices in these sectors have tumbled over the past decade.
Madam Speaker, I was intending to let my dissenting comments on petrol supply arrangements rest with the tabling. I would like to table those comments that I made earlier about Mr Kaine's comments.
Leave granted.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .