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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3374 ..

Mr Moore: Would you go for jobs at any cost?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Moore says jobs at any price. I would not go so far, nor would the Chief Minister, as to say jobs at any price.

Mr Moore: I know you would not, but she did.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Ms Horodny asked the question.

MR HUMPHRIES: I think we will have to call it betterment, Mr Speaker. Everyone is going to call it betterment. That is what it is, I suppose. The reduction in betterment levels is a positive way of encouraging people to make a decision to invest in this city. I have no doubt about that. That is my personal view. We are going to test that view through a study, which was announced yesterday in the budget, by Professor Des Nicholls at the Australian National University to see what impact betterment levels have on investment in our city. In the meantime I think we owe it to people in the construction industry and elsewhere who are doing it very tough in the present climate to find every way we can to put an investment incentive into our system. Lowering betterment levels, unequivocally, does that.

MS HORODNY: I ask a supplementary question. What has happened to the Government's proposal for partial remission of the use rights charge in certain circumstances? Does the change to the 75 per cent replace the proposal for remissions, or could there be further remissions on top of the 75 per cent?

MR HUMPHRIES: I think that the partial remissions question is made clear in the budget documents. As I understand the situation, 75 per cent of betterment is the across-the-board situation. In situations such as the redevelopment of local centres where we talked about a lower rate of betterment or a remission on betterment, there will be a policy developed, which I have said I would put before the Assembly for its approval, as to how we reduce the betterment levels in those cases and what that lower rate should be. I believe that we have said in the budget that the rate should be 50 per cent in those circumstances, but the circumstances in which that 50 per cent will apply are a matter which I will put before the Assembly in due course for its approval.

MR BERRY: My question is directed to Mr De Domenico as the Minister for Urban Services. It is about part-time jobs and is aptly directed at the Minister for some part-time responsibilities.

Ms Follett: The part-time Minister.

MR BERRY: The part-time Minister. Jobs for Canberra, Budget Paper No. 5, on page 16 talks about cleaning up Canberra. Minister, it states that $700,000 will be allocated to create up to 60 jobs - fairly part time, I would suggest - cleaning up graffiti. This works out to less than $12,000 per person.

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