Page 2904 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 6 August 2008
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MR SMYTH: I was relevant when I read this two minutes ago, Mr Corbell, but for your benefit I will be quite happy to read it again. It says:
The St. George Centre for example, had its rates bill increase in the 2006-07 year by $24,000 from its base of $45,000 …
That is an increase of 53 per cent, Mr Corbell. Yes, I would be embarrassed too. I would pull that paper much closer to your face and hide your embarrassment, Mr Corbell. I will keep reading slowly:
The AMP Building had its rates bill increase in the same year by 55 per cent. It is worth noting that the 2006-07 Budget claimed an average commercial rate increase of $442.
I would be embarrassed about that too, Mr Corbell.
Mr Corbell: You still haven’t told us how you are going to vote on the bill.
MR SMYTH: I am sure you do not want to hear your record, but I will keep reminding you of your record. It goes on, Mr Corbell; you clearly missed it. It says:
On a reasonably modest commercial property with an unimproved value of $3m the FESL alone would represent an additional cost of $14,518 for which there is no offset or benefit.
There is no extra service, Mr Corbell; people got nothing except a slug from a government that, as I pointed out, promised on 26 May 2000 to be a low-taxing government. I know that Mr Corbell does not like his record and I know that he does not like the fact that—
Mr Corbell: I just want to know how you are going to vote on it.
MR SMYTH: You will have to listen, Mr Corbell; you will have to be patient. You will have to be patient, Mr Corbell.
Mr Corbell: You have got halfway through.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mr Corbell!
MR SMYTH: I know you are embarrassed. Then we had the outdoor cafe fees. In November 2007, we had Mr Hargreaves with an embarrassing error. He laughed it off in the Assembly, but a couple of days later he had to correct it.
We could go on, Mr Speaker. I will not go into details about the taxes that were meant to be repealed after the goods and services tax was introduced, which this government has failed to do. Sufficient to say that the Stanhope government, along with all other Labor state and territory governments, had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the point where they all agreed to abolish a number of nuisance taxes or transaction taxes. I note that the repeal timetables for these states and territories have been stretched out
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