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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2604 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

An adequate tax base is essential, or social services will continue to be cut and disadvantaged groups and the environment in particular will continue to suffer. In this context, it is totally unacceptable that the Prime Minister is seeking to limit the outcomes of this debate, if indeed you can even call it a debate, when in reality he has already made it quite clear that his two key principles are that there should be no increase in overall tax and that there should be reductions in personal income tax.

The society that the Greens want will be equitable, environmentally sustainable and enterprising. We will fight hard for ecological tax reform to reap a double dividend by reducing taxes on labour and increasing taxes on resource use and pollution - reducing payroll tax with a carbon tax, for example. We reject Mr Howard's push for lower income tax and his - - -

MR SPEAKER: Order! You are testing my patience on the grounds of relevance, Ms Tucker.

MS TUCKER: Mr Speaker, I cannot accept that this is irrelevant to this discussion.

MR SPEAKER: The Bill before the house is the Financial Management (Amendment) Bill.

MS TUCKER: This is absolutely relevant. This is an example of the simplistic reactions that can happen in this place. I really believe that it is quite relevant to raise these broader issues of taxation. This is an issue about tax. Is this not an amendment about tax?

MR SPEAKER: You may raise it, but not necessarily in the context of this piece of legislation, Ms Tucker.

MS TUCKER: This legislation is about tax.

Mrs Carnell: It is not.

MS TUCKER: It is not about tax?

Mrs Carnell: It is about the Financial Management Act and how we are going to sort out the problems of the High Court decision.

MS TUCKER: Mrs Carnell says that it is not about tax; it is about the Financial Management Act and how we are going to deal with the High Court decision. I thought the High Court decision was about tax.

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