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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2403 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Then we have the group centres, and the group centres are not even affected. There has been some misinformation put out by the people who oppose this Government's measure. He might want to talk about it himself but my colleague Mr Hird had a woman ring up and say, "Under your Bill I will not be able to go and shop at Kaleen". Wrong; you will be able to shop. She said, "I will not be able to shop at Kaleen and I will not be able to vote for you any more because of this". Well, she can do both actually, although probably not at exactly the same time. She can shop at Kaleen, because that is a group centre and that is not affected by this, and she can still vote for my colleague Mr Hird. Really, there is some incredible misinformation going about because the group centres are not affected.

This is complex legislation. This is an incredibly complex issue. The big point here, Mr Speaker, is that this Government is doing something. It is not popular. It is hardly universally popular, even with the people who say, "Yes, thank you, you are doing something". Even they would like us to go further. There are many people - - -

Mr Whitecross: Thanks for doing something but it will not work. That is what they are saying.

MR STEFANIAK: Well, it is a hell of a lot better than what you lot did when you were here because you did absolutely nothing. That is why 30,000 people signed that petition to save our local stores. You were not here but that is probably one of the main reasons, Mr Whitecross, why your party went down the gurgler in the February 1995 election.

Mr Whitecross: Your philosophy is that anything is better than nothing.

MR STEFANIAK: This is an attempt. We do not say it is marvellous. We do not say it is perfect. We say, "Okay, we will have a look at it too, later on down the track". That is understood. At least it is doing something, and the little Canberra people who employ locals, who support their local suburban sporting teams and other community activities like that, and who keep their money in the Territory, at least now have a chance, Mr Speaker. It has given them some chance, and I think that is terribly important. I think it is utterly hypocritical of the Labor Party to talk about this affecting people's lifestyle. How yuppyish. That is Pitt Street, Sydney, stuff. My colleague talked about the light in the boardroom on the twenty-fourth floor. That, unfortunately, is so very true.

Ms McRae: Why don't you talk to the people who live in Belconnen?

MR STEFANIAK: You are betraying your origins. You talk about social equity. You talk about social justice. How incredible. How utterly hypocritical, Mr Speaker. Now, we do not profess that this is perfect, but this at least is doing something. This is at least doing something, and it is accepted by the small businesses as doing something.

Mr Wood: You do keep saying that, don't you.

MR STEFANIAK: It is doing something whereas you people did absolutely nothing. There are a few little facts here, Mr Speaker. The Labor Party will have you believe - yes, they will have you believe the magic figure - that 300 or 305 jobs are going to be lost.

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