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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 4091 ..

Question put:

That the debate be adjourned.

The Assembly voted -

AYES, 5	 	NOES, 10

Mr Berry	Mrs Carnell
Ms Follett	Mr Cornwell
Ms McRae	Mr De Domenico
Ms Reilly	Mr Hird
Mr Whitecross	Ms Horodny
		Mr Kaine
		Mr Moore
		Mr Osborne
		Mr Stefaniak
		Ms Tucker

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Part 4 - ACT Executive

Proposed expenditure - ACT Executive, $1,726,000 - agreed to.

Part 5- Central Financing Unit

Proposed expenditure - Central Financing Unit, $34,776,000

MR WHITECROSS (Leader of the Opposition) (12.41 am): I noticed that you quickly moved your head to the right in the hope that I would not catch your eye, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Whitecross, I am always on the right.

MR WHITECROSS: I know how committed you are to a good debate in the Assembly, Mr Speaker. It would be remiss of me to let the Central Financing Unit vote pass without once again reflecting on the fraud that has been perpetrated on the Canberra community by pretending that selling a stream of rental payments is somehow intrinsically different from borrowing money, Mr Speaker. The fact that the sales are handled by the Central Financing Unit, which is responsible for borrowing money, does suggest that in the mind of even the Government there is a very close nexus between these sale and lease-back arrangements and borrowing. It is no wonder that Dr Chessell calls them another form of borrowing. It is no wonder that in considering these kinds of arrangements in the Federal context they are inclined to call them borrowing. We just have to recall, as we vote on this, that the Government has perpetrated a fraud on the Canberra community by pretending that this arrangement is anything other than a form of borrowing.

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