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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 9 Hansard (22 November) . . Page.. 2279 ..

Mrs Carnell: It was money for jam, Wayne.

MR HUMPHRIES: "Money for jam". You could put that in an ad. The most recent scam we have seen also refers to a remote island, Mr Speaker, this time in the Indian Ocean - an island in the Seychelles. You have to ring this phone number in this ad that says, "Dial the world's most profitable phone number now". When you dial this number you get a very longwinded message, in an American accent, telling you about the benefits of the scheme. At the end of a 10- or 15-minute message the basic information is that if you get other people to call that number you will receive a commission. Apparently, in the Seychelles there is some sort of scheme operating whereby people who call long distance to the Seychelles contribute to the account number that they are calling. It is like a 0055 number without being publicly identified as such in advance. People can do $30 or $40 easily on this scheme, with no guarantee of getting any return on that.

Mr Hird has made reference to chain letters. A number of chain letters are going around the Territory at the moment which I think are of some concern. One of them is directed towards children. It asks them to send Little Golden Books on to other people and they will in turn receive a number of Little Golden Books, according to the promise in the letter, which, I might say, looks as though it has been written by a child, but I very much doubt that it has. Of course, children are particularly vulnerable to this kind of thing. They do not understand that what they are being promised here almost certainly will not come true. Similarly, there is a scheme which advertises itself as a "Pretty Panties Exchange". Apparently, if you send six copies of the letter, you will receive 36 pairs of pretty panties in the mail. Mr Speaker, the short answer to all these matters - it is the advice that I would give Mr Hird to give to his constituents - is that you should always avoid a scheme which promises you lots of money for very little effort. If it looks like it is too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

One other one I might mention just in passing is a thing sent to people in the mail. It is from the European Appliance Factory Outlet, which promises people two of a particular European appliance, including dishwashers, food processors and microwave ovens, for just $39.95. Everyone knows you cannot buy any one of those products for $39.95, much less two; so this is almost certainly another of those schemes. The short answer is: Do not believe these sorts of things that promise a lot for very little, particularly if the contact is simply a post office box somewhere else with no contact name or number. Unfortunately, there are some people who get stung with these things. People should avoid them like the plague.

MR BERRY: My question is to Mr De Domenico in his capacity as Minister for Industrial Relations. It is in relation, Minister, to your decision to involve a member of your staff in an investigation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Minister, why did you take this action, which might subject your staff member to sanction under section 67 of the Act? I draw your attention to section 67 of the Act. It relates to obstruction of inspectors. On the basis of the minutes that you tabled yesterday, prima facie, there is a case to answer, in my view. Section 67 says:

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