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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 808 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Let me say that I have certainly followed this through with the Consumer Affairs Bureau, and it appears that an ACT customer who opened a St George cheque account via a 1800 number, not a 008 number, paid $15 in New South Wales tax. That tax is the so-called BAD tax, the bank account debits tax, which is imposed in New South Wales and other jurisdictions - not in the ACT, however - and is paid on money withdrawn using a debit card or a cheque. There is a sliding scale that ranges from about 30c for a transaction of $1 to $100 through to $4 on transactions of above $10,000.

My advice at this point in time - and I am not committing myself so fully that I might get censured later, I can assure you, for giving information that might not be accurate - is that the account attracts the New South Wales debit tax when it is opened in New South Wales. Of course, when someone goes to a branch of a bank in New South Wales and opens an account, it is fairly clear that it is being opened in New South Wales. The problem with a 1800 number being used to open the account by telephone is that the question becomes: Where is the account being opened - where the person is, where the branch the account is being opened at is, or somewhere else?

On this question, my advice from the St George Bank has been, unfortunately, unclear. Officers of the Consumer Affairs Bureau have spoken now to two different people within that bank. One officer advised that accounts opened on the 1800 number are automatically deemed to be New South Wales accounts and attract the tax. However, someone else, admittedly more senior in the bank, said that in fact the bank had a system of checking the postcode of the person who was opening the account; and, if the postcode fell outside New South Wales, then the tax would not be debited against their account. Frankly, I do not know which of those two versions of events is true, and I am certainly asking the Consumer Affairs Bureau to follow through urgently with that bank, particularly, what the situation is.

It is not, I might say, a question of the ACT Government's policy or expectation on this score; it is a question of what the laws of New South Wales say about the payment of tax on accounts operating in their jurisdiction.

Ms Follett: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I understand that you have gone deaf in the ear that listens to that side.

MR SPEAKER: Be careful.

Ms Follett: I draw your attention to the length of this Minister's response. Surely he is required to be concise.

MR SPEAKER: It is a fairly detailed question. I think Ms Tucker is benefiting from the detailed answer, Ms Follett. There is no point of order. It is a complex subject.

MR HUMPHRIES: I am sorry if at the moment Ms Follett has an appointment at the beauticians or somewhere that she has to get to; but I shall try to be brief, Mr Speaker. The fact is that we need to follow this through with New South Wales. If the tax has been paid inappropriately, we will ask for it to be repaid to the account holder concerned.

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