Page 3389 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 14 November 2007
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MR STANHOPE: He has not given up.
Mr Pratt: You are just making all this up.
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MR STANHOPE: He has not given up his intention of abolishing the fire levy. So there we have it. It reinforces the point I make that the Liberal Party has started today in this decision to seek to repeal the utilities tax to remove $17 million from the ACT coffers—
Mr Pratt: Well, you would mislead, wouldn’t you?
MR SPEAKER: Order! Withdraw that, Mr Pratt.
MR STANHOPE: To actually then perhaps proceed on the rest of the tick list—
MR SPEAKER: Order! Resume your seat, Chief Minister. Withdraw that, Mr Pratt, and no more interjections, please.
Mr Pratt: I withdraw.
MR SPEAKER: Chief Minister.
MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The point is, in the context of the bill we are debating today, that the Liberal Party today signals it will actually give effect to the philosophical position presented on behalf of the Liberal Party by Mr Mulcahy this morning. It was not just idle chatter. When asked by Ross Solly whether he believed in tax cuts ahead of service delivery, Mr Mulcahy said yes. He said he believes that the first and most important responsibility of government, and it is a position that the Liberty Party in power would adopt, is cut taxes, cut your revenue, and, then, if you have got any money left over, then, you could perhaps deal with pressing priorities.
This conversation, of course, was not so much in the context of the proposal to abolish the utilities tax; it was in the context of yesterday’s appropriation bill. Mr Mulcahy today has given a very blunt assessment of the Liberal Party’s approach to yesterday’s appropriation bill—in other words, he does not support the range of initiatives contained in that bill amounting to $22 million. The sums are roughly similar, and I think we need to dwell on this. Yesterday, the government introduced a bill which provides for the appropriation of $22 million for services in relation to schools, new welfare officers, new support for victims of sexual assault, support to allow seniors to travel for less on buses, provision of Indigenous-specific drug and alcohol rehabilitation, directed support for educational services, and support for indigenous children who do not meet national benchmarks, support for those who rely on public transport to the tune of $75 million over the term, and additional support for the sufferers of cancer and the ophthalmology department for Canberra Hospital.
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