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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2394 ..

MR OSBORNE: I have to go shopping, Mr Speaker. It is my last chance because of the lies of the Government. Mr Speaker, the Government has assumed that, by restricting the hours in one place, people will automatically go and shop at another place and, consequently, will bail the other businesses out of trouble. We heard on 2CN today just what people had to say about that. If only that were true, I would be more sympathetic; but the Price Waterhouse investigation shows that it will not happen. As the group centre supermarkets will be remaining open at the time when the town centres are closed, those people who do make a change will simply go there for their regular weekly grocery shopping and not down to the local stores. In the case of Tuggeranong, Mr Speaker, they will not go to Woolies at the Hyperdome; they will go to the Woolies at Kambah, Erindale, Conder or Calwell. There is a lot of logic in that, Mr Humphries, is there not?

Mr Speaker, as I said before, a number of our local supermarkets are in serious trouble. However, there are a number of reasons for this; but the growth of town centre supermarkets is yet to be proven to be one of them. It is a proven fact, Mr Speaker, that the largest impact on our local supermarkets is the growth of the group centres. It is they who have caused the local supermarkets to become convenience stores. Even this role is being taken away from them by petrol stations and the like, where you can buy, over a longer range of hours, a wide variety of items, ranging from bread and milk to videos and disposable nappies. This does not change the simple truth that this Bill will not help our local supermarkets. For this reason alone, I consider it unworthy of support. Mr Speaker, there are, unfortunately, only eight of us who have seen that this is nothing but a stunt today. This, however, does not mean that we have turned our backs on small businesses - - -

Mr Humphries: Tell them that.

MR OSBORNE: I told them. You know that this is a stunt, Gary. You are just surprised that you fooled the Greens.

Mr Humphries: I would tell you yes; but I am a liar, as you know.

MR OSBORNE: No; you are all liars.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Please proceed with your speech, Mr Osborne.

MR OSBORNE: It is very hard for me to talk, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Ignore the interjections.

Mr Humphries: He is choking back the emotions here, Mr Speaker.

MR OSBORNE: I am holding back the vomit that I want to throw over what you have done here today, Mr Humphries. What it does mean, though, Mr Speaker, is that we have recognised that this Bill is not going to achieve its purpose and we are saying to the Government, "There are better alternatives. You ought to go away and come back with something that will work". However, given their performance over the past two weeks,

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