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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 230 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Yes, indeed, Mr Speaker; that had occurred to me. I obviously cannot comment on the specific cases; but let me say that if any of those enterprises - and Mr Osborne briefly showed me the advertisements before asking me this question - if any of those advertisers are holding that out and that, in fact, is not consistent with the state of legislation yet to pass through this place, then if I were them I would be consulting my lawyers to see that I was not in a position of having breached the law to which Mr Osborne referred. Perhaps the ads also indulge in fortune-telling. Perhaps they can actually see what the legislation is going to say and they are ready to comply with it; I do not know. If they are, then I certainly would be prepared to consult them.

I must emphasise that it is an offence under the Fair Trading Act to represent that a particular service complies with a certain standard when, in fact, that is not the case. If that is so, then these people ought to be very careful. If they are in the Yellow Pages, of course, they are going to have 12 months of misleading advertising, potentially. I make no comment on specific cases; but, if that were the case, they may be in that position. Mr Speaker, I will instruct the Consumer Affairs Bureau to investigate the matters that Mr Osborne has raised and to ensure that anybody who may have breached the law is properly advised of that fact and, if necessary, appropriate steps are taken.

As to the other part of his question, if Mr De Domenico had known how many people were dying to get up in this place and speak kind words about him, he probably would never have left in the first place.

MR OSBORNE: I seek leave to table those extracts from the Yellow Pages so that you can see them, Minister.

Leave granted.

MS REILLY: My question is to Mrs Carnell in her capacity as Treasurer. As we all know, your Housing Minister, Mr Bill Stefaniak, is in Brisbane today for an emergency meeting with his State and Territory counterparts to discuss the proposed cuts of $500m to the Commonwealth housing budget and to work out with his colleagues ways to stop these cuts going ahead. Will you give a guarantee that you will not be cutting the 1997-98 housing budget in the ACT by handing back money to the Commonwealth, as you did in 1996-97 when you handed back $10.4m?

MR SPEAKER: It is hypothetical.

MRS CARNELL: I suspect that it is out of order. The budget has not been put together, and I certainly will not be making any comments one way or the other on the content of the budget.

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