Page 2767 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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portfolio. I was appalled last week when the minister belittled the portfolio and the accountability processes of the estimates committee and this place.
As I said last week, the ACT government is unique for Australia, in that it combines the role of state and local government. Some in this place seem to forget that these issues are most important and must be addressed. The Chief Minister’s attitude to my question and his portfolio are telling of a minister who thinks himself above the task. In an extraordinary performance during question time last week, in response to a supplementary question from me, the Chief Minister said:
Mr Speaker, I reserve my contempt not for the questions but for the questioner.
Mr Stanhope: You should put that on Twitter. You should Twitter that.
MR COE: You are obviously not a Twitter user. You may well have even seen that last week.
I find it pretty special that we have a Chief Minister who thinks he is the lord mayor of Canberra, but does not actually want to do the mayoral work. He does not actually want to do the roads, does not actually want to do the rates, does not actually want to do the rubbish, does not want to do the footpaths and does not want to do the green paint on the side of the road.
Mr Stanhope: When are you going to apologise for that?
Mr Hanson: For what?
Mr Stanhope: Your sexist attack.
Mr Hanson: What sexist attack?
Mr Stanhope: The Facebook one.
Mr Hanson: What are you alleging, Mr Stanhope?
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Coe, please sit down. Stop the clock, please. Mr Hanson and Mr Stanhope, please stop having a conversation across the chamber. Mr Coe has the floor. Start the clock. Mr Coe.
MR COE: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. This year we are going to see increases in fees, in fares, in rates, even in charges for going to the tip. It is all very well for the government to say that it is not increasing taxes. That may be technically true by the definition of a tax. However, when the average punter pays more for the same service and the money is going to the government, guess what it is in effect? In effect it is a tax. You can go and tell the average punter: no, that is a fare; no, that is a fee; that is a charge. The average punter on the street sees more money going to the government where there is no correlation between the service and the charge. It is a tax. It is simply a tax.
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