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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (25 February) . . Page.. 406 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

The answer is a very interesting one, Ms Horodny. I discovered, on inquiring of my department, that these arrangements have been in place since they were put in place by the Labor Government in 1992 - five years ago. In that year, in May, the department was approached by a company called Contract Media Sales with a proposal to include advertising material in registration renewal reminders as a source of potential revenue to the ACT Government. This proposal was agreed to by the then Minister for Urban Services in July 1992.

The contract specifies that a maximum of two mail-outs can be included at any one time. The contract specifies that all advertising material must be submitted to and approved by the Department of Urban services before it may be included in renewal mail-outs. Under the terms of the contract, the fee payable to the Territory is 60 per cent of all fees paid to CMS by its clients for the advertising material. The revenue raised in the 1995-96 financial year through this scheme was $46,000. So, it seems that there were a number of companies taking advantage of it.

There seemed to be some concern expressed in Ms Horodny's question that there is a specific deal between the ACT Government and Ultra Tune Auto Service, which was the company to most recently advertise with registration renewals. The facts are, however, that the choice of the advertiser to be included in the mail-outs is made entirely by CMS, subject to approval by the Department of Urban Services. In addition, a disclaimer is included on all advertising material stating:

The Territory and Registrar of Motor Vehicles do not warrant, endorse or recommend any of the items or services advertised in this material.

Any company is able to approach CMS for inclusion in this advertising scheme. Due to the relatively large costs for the companies involved, generally only large national companies have participated. There are no specific guidelines for the type of material to be approved. However, because the advertising inserts are included with registration renewals, they have generally been oriented towards vehicle maintenance or insurance. Some other companies which have taken advantage of the advertising scheme are Discount Tyre Service, FAI Insurance and GIO Australia.

In connection with the supplementary question, guidelines covering this type of advertising activity have been in place for some time. These guidelines deal with, among other things, equity of access or opportunity and the appropriateness of the advertising and products or services advertised, because we, too, are somewhat concerned about the fact that this advertising is done through Government means. These guidelines are currently under review. When they have been reviewed and a new determination made, I will make those guidelines available to the Assembly.

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