Page 5059 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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… requests that the Auditor-General consider conducting compliance audits …
I note that the Assembly has in previous times passed similar motions. There was one on 23 June 2010 that was passed that requested the Auditor-General to conduct an audit. In this case we are only requesting the Auditor-General to consider conducting a compliance audit. I think that is a quite proper request for the Assembly to make of the Auditor-General; we are not seeking to direct her.
In summary, I would say that this is a particularly silly motion on the part of the Liberal Party. Why they think it is better for small business to have their invoices paid in a 50 per cent longer period than would otherwise be the case is beyond me, and I think it will be beyond all small business as well. I commend my amendments to the Assembly.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Mr Barr, you get the call. Mr Seselja, if you would just resume your seat, I would like to explain why I have given Mr Barr that call.
Mr Seselja: Because he was on his feet?
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: No. Mr Seselja, please. I wish to explain to the chamber. Procedurally I made an error earlier in the debate when I gave Mr Barr the call ahead of Ms Le Couteur when I misinterpreted the nature of the amendments which were being put before the house. One is consequential on the other. It was my error, and I wish to address that error by asking Mr Barr to take the floor.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Education and Training and Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation) (4.45): I need to formally move my amendment to Ms Le Couteur’s amendment that inserts a new point. It is a new point that notes in the proposed amended motion that 85 per cent of invoices are paid within 30 days. I move my amendment to Ms Le Couteur’s amendment:
Insert new subparagraph (1)(ca):
“(ca) around 85 per cent of invoices are paid within 30 days; and”.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.46): Mr Assistant Speaker, I am just getting a look at Mr Barr’s amendment. I will speak to Ms Le Couteur’s amendment. The Greens are again coming to this place and saying, “It is okay because it is in the Labor-Greens agreement.” That is effectively what their amendment is: it is in the Labor-Greens agreement; therefore it is real. The problem is that it is not happening. The problem is that businesses are not being paid and businesses are not being paid interest.
I would be interested to know—Mr Barr would not say in his comments—how many of the businesses who are being paid late are receiving interest payments. How much is being paid out by the government in interest payments? Given that Ms Le Couteur’s
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