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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 4094 ..

MR BERRY: And she came back into the Assembly and said that was not the case. How is it, Chief Minister, that the Treasurer of the ACT does not know that a GST is a regressive tax?

Mrs Carnell: Mr Speaker, is that the question? I am happy to answer it.

MR BERRY: No; I am not finished yet. How is it that the Chief Minister does not know that a GST is a regressive tax - or are you going to blame your advisers?

MRS CARNELL: No, not at all. I corrected my comment, which was only an interjection, later that day. I am always willing to accept when I get something wrong; that is not a problem.

MR BERRY: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Will the Chief Minister now write to the Prime Minister and tell him that any contribution that she made to the tax reform debate was wrongly based on her assumption that a GST was a technically progressive tax and that all of her contributions should be ignored?

MRS CARNELL: I think it is a bit rich for Mr Berry to be speaking about tax when John Passant the other day revealed the Labor Party agenda on tax and that it should include things like death duties, a tax on family homes, wealth taxes. I think Mr Berry should shut up about taxes very definitely.

Olympic Soccer Matches

MRS LITTLEWOOD: My question is to the Chief Minister. I refer to the claim made earlier this week by Mr Berry that redevelopment of Bruce Stadium was a wrong priority for Canberra. Can the Chief Minister advise whether the Opposition's failure to support the ACT's bid for Olympic soccer has harmed Canberra's chances of hosting additional matches?

MRS CARNELL: I thank the member for the question because it gives me an opportunity to provide those opposite with a very interesting history lesson. The theme of that lesson is consistency - something Mr Berry knows very little about. I want to remind members of a media statement issued by the Labor Party in November 1995 and headed "Government Inaction threatens Soccer Olympics for the ACT". Obviously, it was issued by those opposite. I think those opposite should be embarrassed. I quote from the media release issued by those opposite:

Two events have demonstrated the total lack of any commitment by the Government to bringing the Olympic soccer quarter finals to Canberra.

Firstly, they lost the bid for the $5m plus contract with the Japanese Olympic team to train, acclimatise and live in Canberra before and during the Olympics.

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