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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (11 November) . . Page.. 3939 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

It is a refreshing change to see a Chief Minister who will stand up for the ACT, irrespective of the impact that might have on her colleagues of the same persuasion at the Federal level. I, for one, welcome that. I think the ACT is well served by that approach. We know that, with the present Chief Minister, we will get that. With the alternative Chief Minister, with the man who would be king come 21 February, we know what we can expect because of the past practices of the Federal and local Labor Party.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (4.23), in reply: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, Mr Berry does it again. Mr Moore said that Mr Berry is simply wrong; and I have to say that he was simply wrong on a number of the issues that he spoke about. One of the areas particularly on which he was wrong was the area of the tax debate. I am actually quite open on what my position on this is. My position on the tax debate is that I will not support, nor will this side of the house support, any new tax regime that either entrenches the current inequities in the system or, for that matter, disadvantages people on lower incomes. So, whatever it may be, those things are absolutely bottom line and sacrosanct.

There is no way that I would support a tax reform package that allows people on higher incomes to, shall we say, minimise their tax to the extent that they can now. Similarly, I would not support a tax regime that taxed those people on low incomes at an unfairly high rate. Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, the thing that distinguishes me from Mr Berry is that I do know what I want from tax reform. What I want is jobs. That is exactly what ACOSS says as well. They believe, and I believe too, that the only way we can create real jobs in this country in the longer term is to stimulate growth; and the only way we can stimulate growth is to become internationally competitive; and, on that basis, we need an internationally competitive taxation scheme.

That seems quite simple; but it is obviously a leap ahead of the attitudes of Mr Berry opposite. I think that all of us are looking for a way to restructure our taxation system in a way that is fair to those people who are on low incomes but at the same time makes sure that Australia is competitive in the offshore market; that is, tax reform equals jobs for the future. Mr Berry, obviously, does not believe that at all. In fact, let us look at Mr Berry's approach and the approach of those opposite in this place. What about the debits tax? That is interesting. Did those opposite support the changes in FID and BAD tax? The debits tax did actually produce a higher amount of revenue for the ACT, to be able to be spent on other things. Was there any support? Absolutely none.

Mr Berry: It discriminated against low-income earners. That is what we mostly opposed.

MRS CARNELL: The fact is that it did not. As you know, there is a rebate system there for - - -

Mr Corbell: If you know about it and if you know where to write to. That is really progressive!

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Wood): Order!

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