Page 1853 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 22 June 2021

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wondered what was going on. There was a rolling amount of back-end fixes, but each fix was emerging with a new problem.

That is what led to our taking the scheme down. Despite what the ticker was showing on the website, the vendor has given us assurances that all transactions were recorded accurately. For those who might not know or did not see the dashboard version of the system for businesses, it did indicate that businesses had to enter the total transaction amount, as well as the discount that they were applying. That is where we have the transaction amount that has come through. Of course, that gets verified through the random checks that we have been doing.

MR PARTON: Minister, why did the ChooseCBR website report so many instances of fluctuating spending amounts that increased and decreased at different times?

MS CHEYNE: I regret I do not have an answer to that. My advice is that due to the tinkering that was occurring on the back-end, it was affecting the ticker. As to the technical explanation behind that, I simply do not have that answer. I would hope that the review would reveal that to us, probably in quite technical terms.

MS CASTLEY: A supplementary, Madam Speaker. Minister, was your government counting the total voucher amount of $100, for instance, in its voucher spend on the website, or just the 50 per cent government component?

MS CHEYNE: I am not sure I understand the question, but I will see if I do in responding to it. The ticker, and how it was calculating, was reflecting the voucher that had been redeemed, not the overall transaction amount.

Business—ChooseCBR scheme

MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Business and Better Regulation. On day two of ChooseCBR, Deakin IGA posted a note stating:

WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING CHOOSE CBR VOUCHERS.

THE SYSTEM IS UNRELIABLE AND CAUSES TOO MUCH DISTRESS FOR OUR STAFF AND CUSTOMERS

WE APOLOGISE FOR TRYING TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROGRAM. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS IS OUT OF OUR CONTROL.

Minister, how many businesses across the ACT pulled out of the ChooseCBR scheme because of its litany of areas of failure?

MS CHEYNE: I do acknowledge the experience that businesses were going through. Deakin IGA certainly was not alone. It was very well publicised, I think, because the photo that had been taken was distributed and shared widely. I do apologise that that was the experience for businesses, particularly on that day two, because especially the website for consumers was working incredibly well but the back end was not working very well for businesses. That is where I think a lot of this distress and frustration was really hitting a peak.


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