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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 4 Hansard (7 May) . . Page.. 1053 ..

MR KAINE: It seems, Mr Speaker, that, if you go into business and work hard, if you try to make a decent living, try to make a quid, and at the same time make some contribution to the economy of the society in which you live, with a Labor government you are dead meat, because they will get you. Simply put, rather than taking the hard, responsible decisions that governments have to take, rather than introducing the economic reforms necessary to enable the New South Wales community to live in this modern economic environment, Labor simply puts on another tax. I have no doubt whatsoever that, if Mr Whitecross, or one of the other people over here, by some vague mischance gets to sit on this side of the house after February as the Treasurer, the same kinds of taxes will be imposed in the ACT.

I did read the report that the New South Wales Treasurer had decided to introduce what he calls an accommodation tax - generally known throughout the industry as a bed tax - on certain hotels, motels, guest houses and the like, particularly in the Sydney CBD. I do understand that this new accommodation tax - I do not know whom it accommodates - will be inflicted at a rate of no less than 10 per cent. All I can say about that is that the Labor Party across the border must have a death wish for their tourism industry. This very tax was rejected by the Federal Government and by most of the States, if not all of them, no more than two years ago. In fact, a study done by the Tourism Council of Australia around that time demonstrated that 55 per cent of travellers said that they would change their travel plans if confronted with a bed tax. In spite of that sort of evidence, the New South Wales Government goes ahead and imposes not only a bed tax but a 10 per cent bed tax. It seems that they want to sound the death knell of their tourism industry. I thought when I first read it that maybe the Labor Government in New South Wales was trying to achieve the same objective as that set by the leader of our own new Labor Party opposite the other day when he enunciated the new policy to get rid of Labor at the next election. I think that may be Mr Egan's intention.

Mr Speaker, I can tell you quite bluntly that this Government has no intention of sending our ACT tourism industry to the wall by imposing such a tax. I think people locally need to be warned, people in the tourism and hospitality industry need to be warned, that, if Mr Whitecross and his mates across the other side of the road here get into office next year, they will introduce a bed tax. They will justify it on the grounds that it is in in New South Wales, and therefore if it is good for New South Wales it has to be good for us. All I can say is: If the ACT tourism and hospitality industry wants a bed tax, vote Labor at the next election.

MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. Chief Minister, will you confirm that you have had to draw around $1.63m from your Treasurer's Advance to top up your redundancy pool for this financial year, despite foolishly allocating $12m in the 1996-97 budget? Can you also confirm that this translates to around 340 jobs cut from the ACT Public Service this financial year?

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