Page 1504 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 4 May 2016
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and fines for driving unregistered vehicles by 256 per cent. I know some in the Assembly may find it hard to believe it, but Mr Smyth is the king of increased taxes through fines. Some fines increased—
Mr Coe: Defending unregistered vehicles? How many unregistered vehicles do you have, Jayson?
MR HINDER: Well, it would only be poor people, wouldn’t it, mate? Some fines increased by 400 per cent in Mr Smyth’s time as minister. Clearly those opposite are completely out of touch and have their priorities all wrong. They are more interested in keeping their friends in the federal Liberal Party happy than standing up for Canberra. Who knows when another Senate spot might open up?
Unlike those opposite on this side of the Assembly we actually back up our rhetoric with action. The Barr Labor government has continued and always will continue to grow our economy and advocate around the world for Canberra businesses and our economy to help insulate us from the unending attack from the Liberal Party. We will stand up for Canberra and Canberrans. Madam Speaker, I thank those members who supported the motion today. I commend the motion.
Amendment agreed to.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Government Procurement (Capital Metro) Amendment Bill 2016
Debate resumed from 9 March 2016, on motion by Mr Coe:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Tourism and Events and Minister for Urban Renewal) (3.24): I rise to oppose the private member’s bill which seeks to amend the Government Procurement Act to remove provisions allowing confidential text to be withheld from publication on the government’s contract register for contracts relating to the capital metro light rail.
The grounds for a territory entity to agree to withhold text from publication are sensible, conservative and in line with other legislation such as the Freedom of Information Act.
The ACT’s transparency in its contract publication is a stand-out in this country, surpassing most other, if not all, jurisdictions by publishing not just some information about its contracts, but the actual text of all notifiable contracts. With this level of transparency it is critical for the territory to ensure that its contractors—and the territory itself—are protected by allowing certain text to be kept confidential.
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