Page 1230 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 6 April 2016
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It is certainly not the position of those opposite. The time is coming—very soon—when Mr Hanson will have to declare, will have to get off the fence. But we really know what they intend to do, and that is to jack up stamp duty, jack up insurance taxes and jack up payroll tax—to put all of those taxes back up. All the way through they have opposed them coming down. They have opposed this reform all the way through. Petty, small-minded, with no vision for the future—that is what we see. We have seen it writ large today in almost every motion before this Assembly.
The government will not be supporting Mr Smyth’s motion. And, hopefully, Madam Deputy Speaker, we will not have to listen to any more tax lectures from Brendan Smyth after October.
MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (5.20): Following that extraordinary effort from the Chief Minister, who sounds more and more like he is in opposition every day, I will speak briefly to commend Mr Smyth for bringing this motion forward. It seems that Mr Barr has forgotten whom he is representing here. It is actually not Malcolm Turnbull. It seems that every day the Chief Minister likes to quote Mr Turnbull, say how wonderful Mr Turnbull is, and how proud and pleased he is that he said some nice things about what Mr Barr is doing.
It is a little sad in a way. It is a little like a schoolboy trying to please teacher. I can see Mr Barr desperately seeking Malcolm Turnbull’s approval. He endlessly quotes him. I do not think I have ever actually heard him quote from Bill Shorten in this place or even mention Bill Shorten. But not a day goes by when Mr Barr does not say, “What does Mr Turnbull think of me? I am so excited that Mr Turnbull knows who I am.” It was very unfortunate that he got locked out of the Lodge. Mr Turnbull had actually forgotten who Mr Barr was. That was a little bit embarrassing for him.
But the problem is that while Mr Barr spends his time trying to bedazzle and say, “Look at me, Mr Turnbull; look at me, Mr Turnbull; I’m a tax reformer, too, Mr Turnbull,” the reality is that there is a group that does have concerns with these reforms. Mr Barr thinks that it is us. He thinks that it is only we who have concerns with these. He has forgotten the ratepayers—the ratepayers, that is right, Madam Deputy Speaker. There is a pretty large group of Canberrans who have some real problems with what Mr Barr is doing. Every time they get their rates bill, it is going up and up and up.
Now we have people across Canberra paying hundreds of dollars more in their rates every single year because of these reforms that Mr Barr has brought in that he is so excited about because he got a little pat on the head from Malcolm Turnbull. We will continue to represent and focus on what is best for the ratepayers of the ACT and care less about what Mr Turnbull thinks about us.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Capital Metro, Minister for Health, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Climate Change) (5.23): What a remarkable speech that was, Madam Deputy Speaker, from the Leader of the Opposition. I thought that, while not particularly or directly, he avoided the question of what his position actually
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