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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3269 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

(2) the use by any television station of any part of the recorded proceedings in subsequent news, current affairs and documentary programs and not for the purposes of satire or ridicule; and

(3) the taking of still photographs during questions without notice and the presentation of the Appropriation Bill 1996-97 today and the Leader of the Opposition's speech on the resumption of the debate on Thursday, 26 September 1996, and the use of such photographs in the print media generally.

STAMP DUTIES AND TAXES (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 2) 1996

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (10.33): I ask for leave to present the Stamp Duties and Taxes (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1996.

Leave granted.

MRS CARNELL: I present the Stamp Duties and Taxes (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1996 and its explanatory memorandum.

Title read by Clerk.

MRS CARNELL: I move:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

Mr Speaker, this Bill amends the Stamp Duties and Taxes Act 1987. The Act provides for the imposition of stamp duties on, among other things, conveyances of leases of land. Mr Speaker, the changes proposed in this Bill correct an anomaly in the Act which could lead to a significant erosion of stamp duty revenues.

In 1991 the Labor Government introduced an amendment to the Stamp Duties and Taxes Act 1987 which shifted the liability for the payment of stamp duty on commercial leases from the lessee, the tenant, to the lessor, the building owner. The effect of the change was to bring within the stamp duty net buildings leased to the Commonwealth and Territory governments. The amendments operated effectively for several years, with stamp duty being collected at full ad valorem rates. However, it was recently brought to the Government's attention that, on a literal reading of the relevant provision in Schedule 1 to the Stamp Duties and Taxes Act, conveyances of subleases to the Commonwealth and the Territory could, in fact, be liable only to prescribed stamp duty of $20. This was certainly not the intention of the previous Government, nor is it the intention of this Government.

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