Page 5155 - Week 12 - Thursday, 27 October 2011
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variation charge is a small part of our overall revenue base, but it is an important one in terms of being able to provide assistance to pay for services that this community need. The simplistic idea that the lease variation charge—
Mr Seselja: Point of order, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: One moment, Chief Minister. The clock—
Mr Seselja: The question was very specific. It asked what the $50,000 unit tax would do to assist families with cost of living pressures. It was not about all the other things that Ms Gallagher is talking about; it was specifically about how it would impact on families and their cost of living.
Mr Hargreaves: On the point of order, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hargreaves.
Mr Hargreaves: I could not hear the answer the Chief Minister made, so I have got no idea whether this point of order is right.
MR SPEAKER: Chief Minister, Mr Seselja did ask a specific question.
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The lease variation charge, like other important revenue lines in the budget, will be used to spend on services for Canberrans. It is used to fund schools, it is used to fund targeted assistance for disadvantaged communities, it is used to fund health services and it is used to fund municipal services—just like every other revenue line. Whilst all of us would love to pay less, and we would, the way our city is growing and the way our needs are growing require responsible leadership to look at how you provide those services within a revenue base that is small and try to contain the growth of that revenue base. Yes, we all sign up for that. The lease variation charge is a very small part of this.
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order!
MS GALLAGHER: Yes, we acknowledge that developers do not want to pay it; we acknowledge that developers do not want to pay for the additional development rights that they are granted—
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Mr Smyth!
MS GALLAGHER: and for the enormous profit that they make on those development sites. We on this side of the chamber believe that developers need to return part of that profit back for the community to benefit from. That is something we are proud of standing for.
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