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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 8 Hansard (24 August) . . Page.. 2319 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety): Mr Speaker, for the information of members and pursuant to subsection 47(3) of the Financial Management Act, I present approvals of guarantees under an agreement between the Australian Capital Territory and the CPS Credit Union Cooperative (ACT) Ltd under the new enterprise loan guarantee scheme. I ask for leave to make a short statement.

Leave granted.

MR HUMPHRIES: These guarantees arise through the administration of the new enterprise loan guarantee scheme, which represents the Government's continued support for small business in the ACT. They represent approvals for loan guarantees to the CPS Credit Union for two applicants. The underlying principle of this scheme is to provide small businesses with start-up capital in the expectation that they will succeed in establishing and developing their businesses to a point where they are self-sustaining.

It is intended that the scheme will give eligible applicants access to loans, to a maximum of $10,000 over a period of up to two years, from an approved financial institution. The CPS Credit Union has agreed to support the principles of the scheme by providing concessional rates to eligible applicants and has been selected as the loan provider. I stress that these are guarantees, not loans, grants or any other form of financial assistance and that the maximum exposure under the scheme is capped at $500,000.

MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services) (4.28): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Government's response to the Standing Committee on Urban Services Report No 25, entitled "A code of practice for the placement of movable signs in public places", which was presented to the Assembly on 6 May 1999. I move:

MR SMYTH: The Roads and Public Places Act 1937 was amended in November last year to allow regulation of movable signs in public places by a code of practice determined by the Minister. A draft code of practice was examined by the Standing Committee on Urban Services, which tabled its report on 6 May 1999. The standing committee endorsed the draft code and recommended that a public information strategy be implemented to publicise and explain the code. Mr Speaker, I propose to formally determine the code next month and, in line with the standing committee's recommendation, my department will conduct a program of promoting the code and explaining its provisions over the following two to three months.

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