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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2413 ..

Mr Stefaniak: How can you say that, Wayne? What rubbish.

MR BERRY: Bill, why do you not take a little drive down there.

Mr Stefaniak: I have, mate. What about Tillyard Drive? They are doing okay now, mate, but that one went broke about 12 months ago and they have someone else in there now. Have a look at Tillyard Drive, Charnwood.

MR BERRY: If you get a 24-hour trader in Kippax, which this legislation will guarantee - - -

MR SPEAKER: Order, please! Mr Berry deserves to be heard in silence.

Ms Horodny: No, he does not.

MR BERRY: You are so kind. Mr Speaker, a 24-hour trader is almost guaranteed to start at the Kippax shopping centre. Woolworths are going to do it. I do not think there is any doubt about that. You reckon that that will not have an impact on the small shops nearby? You are kidding yourself. Fancy supporting this sort of legislation when it will, in fact, do the reverse of what you want to happen. In fact, it will kill off those small businesses, but it will do it quickly. What a joke. Really, the Greens have let the community down badly on this one. It agitates me to see a party which calls itself a principled party standing up for this sort of legislation and claiming it will do things in relation to small business which it will not.

The Liberals, on the other hand, say that this is not perfect and it just shows that they are trying. Well, I agree with you; perfection is a long way off when it comes to this legislation. Yes, I agree with you; you are trying, very trying, when it comes to this legislation. Bear in mind, Mr Speaker, that these are the same people who were collecting signatures in the lead-up to the last election, and the Liberals cashed in on this, of course. They had a big investment in this save our shops campaign, and they were going to deliver for the small shopowners. I wonder what the blokes in Holt, Higgins and Charnwood think now. They will look at this and say, "What is in this for me? It means I am going to have a 24-hour trader on my back doorstep". He will be laughing, will he not? Ha, ha, ha!

Mr Whitecross: They did close the Charnwood school, though. That would help the small businesses there - closing the Charnwood High School!

MR BERRY: Well, that is just another helping hand that the Liberals give for supporters of the party that represents small business. That was another imperfect decision, was it not? It was not quite perfect, so we ended up with another imperfect decision which has done a lot for small business in Charnwood! So what are the Liberals going to do? They say, "We will make it a little bit more imperfect and give you a 24-hour trader". Come on! Nobody swallows the nonsense you are trying to ram down their throat. The small business people are being fooled as well. They have had the wool pulled over their eyes when you claim that this is going to - - -

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