Page 5736 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 6 December 2011
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Stanhope government on its way into office; the former Chief Minister was very good at talking. The reality, though, was somewhat different, as collaboration virtually withered on the vine.
Yes, the ACT is an island within New South Wales, and to this extent there must be all possible collaboration across our border with the New South Wales government, with businesses operating in New South Wales, with communities in New South Wales, and in utilising our region’s wonderful natural features in developing tourism and associated activities. Unfortunately, reality appears to be at odds with this intention or objective.
Possibly the biggest obstacle to effective collaboration between the ACT and New South Wales concerns differences in regulations in each jurisdiction. I am not aware of any instances of regulations operating in the ACT and New South Wales having been made identical or repealed. There has been considerable work harmonising payroll tax regimes across Australia, but unfortunately, if you are a business, harmonising means that each jurisdiction will agree to make some features common while retaining features which are unique to the individual jurisdictions. The consequence is that, despite all the talk, a business which has activities in the ACT and New South Wales still has to operate two separate payroll tax systems. Until this type of regulatory nonsense is removed the achievement of effective collaboration is a pipedream.
Let us go to the matter of taxation. How does the ACT’s record of collaboration stand up in considering taxing matters? Not very well, actually. We have just seen the conclusion of a challenge, stretching back over more than three years, by the Queanbeyan City Council to the ACT government’s silly and complex utilities tax. This ended up in the High Court and the court found in favour of the ACT government in October this year. So in an era of collaboration across our border the ACT community and the Queanbeyan community have been subject to the substantial legal costs associated with this challenge—and all over a tax that is one of the most complex and inefficient in the history of taxation.
One can only question or ask what collaboration there was between the ACT Labor government and the surrounding Queanbeyan shire over this matter. And the answer is absolutely no collaboration whatsoever. Collaboration should be about working together to achieve positive outcomes. We have had enough ineffective talking about regional collaboration. It is not enough to sign a document to say that you are going to collaborate. This government and this Chief Minister, like the previous Chief Minister of this Labor government, will be judged, I suggest, very poorly in history. It is time for this government to get involved in meaningful collaboration which will facilitate economic cooperation and development between the ACT and New South Wales. Then we will have something to talk about.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Leader, ACT Greens) (4.16): The Greens very much agree that regional collaboration is absolutely vital for the ongoing prosperity of the territory and the greater region. We do need to recognise that we are part of the region. While, of course, we are limited in the direct impact we can have,
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