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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (11 November) . . Page.. 3931 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

one for the Australian people. It threatens the not so well off in our society something fiercely. It has affected those in similar societies across the oceans negatively and will do the same here. It is a taxation regime to be opposed; it is a taxation regime for the rich; it is a taxation regime for the middle classes. It is not a taxation system which looks after the poor people in society; it is not a taxation system which looks after the working poor or people on benefits and those sorts of things. Mrs Carnell, after your statement, you should be ashamed of yourself. It is an absolute outrage that you would say that this is, technically, a progressive tax. Thank you.

Mr Speaker, a few other matters, I think, need to be talked about. Mrs Carnell did mention some debate about domestic violence at the Domestic Violence Summit. Her speech mentioned the $12m that was allocated in funding for projects for States and Territories. That is a pittance. It is not anywhere near enough, and I think it was a shameful attempt by the Prime Minister to seek to indicate that he was in some way being generous. I mean, $12m across Australia! What a joke! How much does that boil down to, per capita, for the ACT?

Mrs Carnell: It works out at $200,000 over 31/2 years.

MR BERRY: What a big hit! The people who are suffering from domestic violence will not notice the difference. It is an outrageous pittance and is not something that we should boast about. I wish that the Chief Minister had opposed that strenuously and angrily.

Mrs Carnell: I did, and got into huge trouble.

MR BERRY: Obviously, the huge trouble that you got into modified your ways, because you went on here to say:

Domestic violence is a national issue that does require a national commitment; so, I suppose that last Friday's meeting represented ... a good starting point.

It was a bad starting point, in my book. The $12m is a pittance.

Mrs Carnell: That is not what New South Wales thought.

MR BERRY: The $12m is a pittance. Those two areas, I think, were the areas of most concern for me, because the issue of taxation in Australia is likely to head down the wrong path and will impact on poorer people severely. With an attitude like that of the Chief Minister, the Prime Minister and other conservatives, it is clear that the poorer classes in our community are not in focus when it comes to looking at taxation reform. These are a group of people who are interested only in those who are well off. I think that is a shameful approach. Their approach has that similar attitude to the not so well off that is shown in relation to the domestic violence issue. I am upset that more was not done in relation to that. I am mostly upset that the Chief Minister did not take an angrier stance in relation to that, because I think it was absolutely outrageous to make this suggestion: "We have to start somewhere".

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