Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2322 ..
MS DUNDAS
(continuing):I would like to briefly talk about government business enterprises here, as the Department of Treasury appears to be the most adequate part of the debate to do this. I have welcomed the decision of the government to finally bite the bullet and tackle the massive losses of the International Hotel School and Totalcare industries. I have been continually troubled by the lack of transparency in the management of these ventures.
It has been a struggle to get a true picture of where things have been going wrong in the management of their finances and strategies, and I hope the government will be more forthcoming in the future when questioned about government-owned enterprises. We await the tabling of the working party report on Totalcare, which the Treasurer last week said he would table during this sitting period.
On a more positive note, I had feared that my calls for changes to the stamp duty concession scheme were falling on deaf ears, but I am glad to see that changes are finally being made to make the scheme useful to more than a handful of low-income home buyers. I believe that this is a small step towards a solution to the affordable housing crisis affecting the ACT.
MR CORNWELL
(5.13): Addressing the Department of Treasury appropriation: I would like to begin by referring to the government response to the Select Committee on Estimates. May I say I am heartened by that response in relation to at least one recommendation. Other members will remember-as, indeed, will the Treasurer-that the Treasurer and I had a number of run-ins about the fact that self-funded retirees were not going to be exempt from the bushfire levy or other imposts that were proposed. As we are aware, the bushfire levy has been abolished and that therefore no longer applies.Nevertheless, the principle of not exempting self-funded retirees when other people were exempt-I refer specifically to the 1,940 ACT Housing Trust tenants who were paying full market rent-struck me as being unfair. It struck me as unfair that people who could be in receipt of a very good salary were going to be exempt from a levy that was going to be imposed on people who were on a fixed income. I did not believe that that was fair.
Mr Wood
: You caught up with what was happening, I assume? Did you read the government's response to the reports?MR CORNWELL
: Thank you, Mr Wood. I have already acknowledged the fact-Mr Wood
: You're doing your duty here, Mr Cornwell, which is a significant sacrifice on your part.MR CORNWELL
: That the bushfire levy has been dropped. In fact, if you give me a chance, I was going to pay the government a small compliment.Mr Quinlan
: We don't need them. Move on! You can't filibuster without giving us compliments, Greg. You're losing it, mate.MR CORNWELL
: However, I am pleased that the matter has been resolved.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .