Page 4156 - Week 13 - Thursday, 14 December 2006
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
the unrealistically high expectations of the ACT taxpayer regarding the provision of essential services—a serious crime against the people of Canberra.
This has been an all too familiar refrain from the Treasurer, who, since the horror budget he presented to the Assembly earlier this year, needed to couch such offensive revenue-raising measures in terms that allowed his cabinet to sleep better at night. It was the people of Canberra that suddenly had expectations of their territory government that were too high. They had had it too good for too long and now they would have to prepare for an economic reality check.
The territory government could not afford its current spending path on the limited tax base and revenues that it was currently receiving. Something drastic had to be done to stop the rot. Before we go any further, let us remember that this Labor government was in power for over five years before such a revelation occurred.
Despite the attempts to dredge back into the past and blame former governments of this territory, five years is long enough to accept responsibility for the expenditure overruns that have been experienced in the ACT. Let us also note that this desperate appeal for belt-tightening was presented in terms of the territory’s own locally generated tax revenue. The Treasurer failed to acknowledge in this ruse, however, the substantial improvement in the ACT government’s revenue base following the introduction of GST in 2000. In fact, this government is expecting to receive $758 million in GST receipts this financial year, which is a six per cent increase on last year.
When you view this in the context of the almost $4 billion in GST revenue that the ACT has received since GST came in in 2000, which is over $90 million above budgeted expectations, the real reason behind this new utilities tax becomes painfully apparent—that the Stanhope Labor government is introducing this new tax because in fact it has totally mismanaged successive ACT budgets. Why else would this government even consider shaping up to the major telecommunications companies, putting so many of the industry’s noses out of joint, for only a relatively small injection of revenue into its coffers? This is what this government has done.
Mr Stanhope has single-handedly sullied any remaining faith that the private sector and industry groups may have had left in his government after this year’s draconian budget. The proof of this is in the strongly worded letter Mr Stanhope received from all six major telecommunications providers in the ACT, including TransACT, I might note, in the lead-up to this bill being presented and debated. Imagine the kind of slap in the face it would take for all six major telecommunications providers in the territory, who are fierce competitors, to jointly sign a declaration of opposition to the proposed legislation. This has been accomplished with this piece of legislation.
Let me quote a few excerpts from the letter in question to give the Assembly a feel for the degree of displeasure these corporations felt and are still feeling towards this piece of legislation. The letter states, “We believe that the introduction of this new tax will bring about a number of serious unintended consequences for the telecommunications sector, which would prove detrimental to the territory. It goes on to state, “We also believe the adverse effects of these unintended consequences, which substantially
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .