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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2079 ..

MR BERRY: I am just trying to explain how I am going to get this question to the Minister riding shotgun here.

MR SPEAKER: Never mind about that.

MR BERRY: Mr Minister, whilst you are keen to ride shotgun for Mr De Domenico - - -

MR SPEAKER: Question, please, without preamble.

MR BERRY: I am just trying to explain where he missed the point, Mr Speaker. I asked the question: What ACT analysis was made? You apparently missed that very important point. I asked you what had been done in respect of that. Is it the truth that there never was an ACT analysis? Is it the truth that you have set yourself in train and you are not going to move, that you do not care how many jobs are going to go and that your attitude to these jobs is the very same as that of the Minister for whom you are riding shotgun - "So what?".

MR HUMPHRIES: First of all, let me say that if you have - - -

Mr De Domenico: It is called being a smart banana.

Mr Berry: Answer the questions yourself.

MR HUMPHRIES: Patience, Mr Berry. Patience is a great quality. You should aim for it. First of all, I will eschew the obvious question: Why will Mr Berry not table his proof that there are 306 job losses, as claimed by the Supermarket Institute? My proof is based on a local study, a study that your own Government commissioned and that reported in March 1995. Ms Follett looks puzzled. What are we talking about? We are talking about the Ibecon study, the study that you people commissioned to find out what was going on with the expansion of town centres, particularly in terms of growth in supermarkets and in other retailing in those places.

Mr De Domenico: Mr Wood remembers.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Wood perhaps remembers. I quote from page 1 of the executive summary of the report of that study:

The Region currently has an oversupply in the provision of shop floorspace in the bulk retail categories, and is in approximate balance in all other categories of shops. Population and real growth in spending per capita will soon result in shop floor space deficiencies, mostly in the outer new growth suburbs.

It goes on to reflect the fact that the growth of supermarkets, particularly in the town centres, has a serious impact on the way in which local centres trade. There is also some evidence based on the views of organisations which have been working in this area for some time, including the Small Business Council, whose vice-president this morning said:

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