Page 2968 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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It does not matter what the industry is, what industry needs is certainty, clarity, honesty, and none of it comes from Katy Gallagher. I commend Mr Seselja for bringing forward this important matter, and I commend him for his persistence and his advocacy on behalf of an important industry in this town. Without that advocacy and without bringing forward these issues, the logical consequence will be that the cost of individual units and unit developments will go up, and that will knock on to freestanding houses, as is always the case. This will raise the cost of housing in the ACT. It will also raise the cost of doing business, because the change of use charge does not just apply to housing.
There is a lot this minister has to account for in this area. She is not prepared to come clean with the community and tell them how this unknown deal was done and who was responsible for it. Somebody must know. There must be something somewhere, and this minister has done nothing to account for that as well.
I commend Mr Seselja for the motion and I commend the motion to the place.
Mr Seselja: Mr Speaker—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Seselja, you have already spoken on this.
Mr Seselja: I do not think anyone else is—
MR SPEAKER: Do you want to close the debate overall?
Mr Seselja: Unless someone else is keen to speak, but I do not see anyone else getting up.
MR SPEAKER: No, I think you are right. Thank you.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (7.58): I thank members for their contributions—
Mr Smyth: Varied as they were.
MR SESELJA: Varied as they were indeed. There has been a real trivialisation of this issue by a number of speakers. This is an important issue to a very important industry in our territory. If we look at the major drivers of economic growth over the last few years in the territory, there is no doubt that the construction industry and the housing sector in particular have been critical to the state of the ACT economy, and members of the government and the Greens seem to have no appreciation of that. The Treasurer particularly seems to not have any care for whether or not that is the case and whether or not this tax will impact on that.
But today we are not actually debating the tax; we are simply asking for information. That is why we thought this would be relatively non-controversial. It is extraordinary sometimes what is controversial for the Greens and the Labor party. A series of statements of fact followed by a request for information are now controversial, because they do not want to give up the information.
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