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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (17 February) . . Page.. 302 ..
MR QUINLAN (continuing):
I note that the Treasurer has engaged a team of consultants to assist in this process. If we need them, we need them; but I do hope and trust that we will build in house a capacity to deal with the GST at the same time, so that we do have some sort of corporate knowledge and continuity of knowledge, given that the GST is going to be a pervasive problem and probably a moveable feast over a year or two before it is bedded down completely.
Today we have learnt about loans. I do not think that this paper and the speech that the Treasurer just delivered include the term "loan". However, we talked about interest-free loans. I can see that the Treasurer is taking notes, so I presume he is going to respond to this debate. He might let us know what will happen with those loans at the point when there is a break even between the position we are now in under grants and the position we will be in under this growth tax. At that point will we not grow until we have actually expunged those loans with our positive margin?
Mr Humphries: No, you do not understand what I said.
MR QUINLAN: No, I did not. I am only asking for clarification. Please give me clarification. I just do not know whether these loans are refundable or whether they will be clawed back as the tax grows beyond the current situation. While you are clarifying that point, you might go the further mile and clarify whether the position that we will be no worse off is in nominal terms or in real terms.
MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (4.37), in reply: Mr Speaker, I wish to respond to a couple of issues Mr Quinlan raised. I think he was suggesting that the process of planning for the GST seemed to have been begun in February 2000. I want to point out to Mr Quinlan that on page 12 of the speech I have just presented there are five phases listed. We have already completed phase 1 of that planning process and are now well into phase 2 of that planning process. That has been a considerable exercise, given that there are many unanswered questions about the GST remaining - I am happy to concede that - and the Commonwealth has yet to completely reconcile a number of issues which have been discussed between State governments and, of course, between the Federal Government and the community more generally. Mr Speaker, there are many planning issues yet to be sorted out, but we have proceeded with issues as quickly as we have felt able to.
Mr Quinlan made reference to creative accounting - - -
Mr Quinlan: Novel accounting.
MR HUMPHRIES: You actually said "creative accounting".
Mr Quinlan: I did not. I said that I would not say "creative accounting".
MR HUMPHRIES
: Okay. That is a "when did you stop beating your wife" type of comment. As to the comment about novel accounting, not creative accounting, I simply say to Mr Quinlan that he will have the Treasury before his committee in the next week,
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