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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1044 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

and it means that employers can get a young trainee for a period of 12 months for under $10,000. I think it is about $8,000. We have indications from the private sector, and from the public sector, that those jobs will be available out there, that employers are willing to put on young people under those circumstances, to give them a go.

Not to sit on our hands, as I announced yesterday, we are going to give preference in our tendering out, all things being equal, to companies that have put on trainees. When we go down the tendering path, those companies that have put young people onto staff, that have put on trainees and apprentices, will get preference in ACT Government tendering. We are not just saying, "Let us hope against hope that there are 500 jobs out there". The CES and the Youth Coalition, who have worked up this whole program with us - it did not just come out of thin air - believe that we can find 500 jobs out there; 500 traineeships and apprenticeships. We will give preference in tendering. There is $1,000 per head, or $500,000, from the ACT Government, over $3,000 from the Commonwealth Government, and training elements, and we believe that both the private sector and the public sector will come to the party. Of course, those opposite just whinge all the time. The only people who are not interested in jobs seem to be those opposite.

MR HIRD: Mr Speaker, my question is also to the Chief Minister, Mrs Carnell. Chief Minister, I dare say you would know my concerns in respect of small businesses. I was surprised last week to read in the Canberra Times the headline "ACT Businesses Going Bust - Fast". Was this an accurate assessment of the bankruptcy statistics as they relate to the ACT business sector? If not, what is the real picture?

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I did note the Canberra Times article. Like most members of this Assembly, and rightly so, I was quite concerned about the picture it painted of a dramatic increase in business bankruptcies in Canberra. Indeed, I sought further information from my department about these statistics and how we should be responding - again, I think, a very appropriate approach. I must admit that it was with some surprise that I read the report that came back. Armed with all the facts, the picture was quite different from that presented in the article referred to.

First, the bankruptcy data for the ACT covers all companies incorporated in the ACT, including those that are incorporated here but physically located interstate. As many people would know, a lot of companies do incorporate here but do not trade here at all. My advice is that up to half the business bankruptcies registered in the ACT bankruptcy district actually relate to firms operating interstate rather than in the ACT. Secondly, the bankruptcy data relates to personal as well as unincorporated business bankruptcies but not corporate insolvencies, with no breakdown provided to indicate how many bankruptcies reported in the March quarter are business bankruptcies. However, based on data from 1995-96, unincorporated business bankruptcies account for approximately 28 per cent of the total. In other words, fewer than one in three of these bankruptcies was a business bankruptcy, going on past trends. That is not to say, of course, that personal bankruptcies are any less serious for the people involved, but it does reflect on the Canberra Times headline suggesting that businesses were going bust fast.

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