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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (29 February) . . Page.. 383 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

Howard-Costello GST cheer squad. She grabbed the lines as they rolled off the fax machine. It was a cut and paste job as she removed the word "Beazley" and substituted "Stanhope". Of course, it denied reality, just as the rhetoric of her Federal colleagues denies the reality of the GST.

The essence of the Chief Minister's attack was a simple distortion. It was a distortion of what territory, state and Federal Labor leaders had announced when they met in Burnie in Tasmania. Mrs Carnell claimed, wrongly again, that Labor leaders had agreed to a plan that would result - when Labor is inevitably returned to government at the next Federal and ACT elections and initiates its roll-back - in less money being available to the States and Territories. That is simply wrong. If Mrs Carnell had cared to read the communique from the Labor leaders forum, she would have seen these words:

What part of "guarantee" does Mrs Carnell not understand? Perhaps she has it confused with the core and non-core promises of her Federal colleagues, in particular, her Federal leader. Perhaps she has confused it with the type of commitment that saw her Federal leader - the one in whose GST shadow she now stands - swear that in government "he would never ever introduce a GST". That is the commitment of the Liberal's Federal leader - that he would never ever introduce a GST - and we are asked here whom we believe, Mr Beazley's guarantee or Mr Howard's promise to never ever introduce a GST. I know whom I believe. I am certainly not believing the never ever man. I have a lot more confidence in Labor's definition of a guarantee than in Mr Howard's definition of "never ever".

Labor is united in its belief around the country that the GST is a harsh and regressive tax that imposes an unfair burden on low and middle income Australians and their families. Already the impact of a GST's introduction is being felt, and it feeds through into higher prices and higher interest rates. The impact will only be greater when smaller business people grapple with the cost of compliance. Already ordinary Australians can see the promise of tax cuts growing dimmer before they even arrive.

It is that belief that led Labor leaders to resolve at the Burnie forum that they would: One, confirm their continuing opposition to the GST; two, pledge to work together to improve the transparency of the GST; three, condemn the plans of the Howard Government to scrap the intergovernmental agreement by cutting specific purpose payments to the States after the GST is introduced - and we have not heard very much from our ACT Treasurer about that; and, four, pledge to work together to facilitate the roll-back of the GST.

That resolve of Labor leaders is clearly and unambiguously framed in the commitment of Kim Beazley to guarantee that the impact of the roll-back will not be borne by the States and Territories. Labor can make that guarantee, but the Government cannot guarantee that individual low or middle income taxpayers, pensioners or fixed income retirees will be no worse off under the GST. Mr Howard and Mrs Carnell cannot make that guarantee, simply because most will be worse off.

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