Page 3137 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 12 September 1990
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Gaming and Liquor Authority
MRS NOLAN: Mr Speaker, my question is also directed to the Chief Minister and it refers, in fact, to GALA. Will the transfer of the gaming and liquor function from GALA lead to an increase in the ACT Public Service?
MR KAINE: Mrs Nolan obviously has an interest in sporting matters too, and I am very pleased that she has raised this question about GALA so that there can be no doubt of what the Government's intention is. The answer to that question, of course, is that there will not be an increase in the Public Service. This comes back to the question that Mr Stevenson raised. The intention is to reduce the number of public servants over time rather than to increase it.
I would expect that the transfer of functions across to the ACT Government Service would be done on an establishment neutral basis and a budget neutral basis. All we are doing is simply transferring functions from one government organisation to another, and I would expect that to be done without any increased staff whatsoever. I would hope also to consolidate some of the functions. For example, I have said that the revenue collection functions of the TAB will be absorbed into the revenue office.
I would have thought that that could have been done by dispensing with the resources currently being used within GALA to collect revenue, but without any addition to the number of people in the revenue office. So there should be, in effect, a net saving of people rather than a net increase. That would certainly be the Government's objective.
Liberal Party - ACT Division
MR WOOD: I direct a question to the Minister for Finance, Mr Duby. Is the Minister aware that the ACT division of the Liberal Party, in the operation of a building it owns in Canberra, has been entering into licensing arrangements with its tenants to avoid its stamp duty obligations? What action will the Minister take to ensure the ACT's revenue base is protected from such tax avoidance schemes?
MR DUBY: Of course, the question is based on a premise in which Mr Wood may believe but I do not; that is, of course, that the Liberal Party organisation is entering into tax avoidance arrangements. I shall undertake to have the matter investigated and if such is the case I shall reply directly to Mr Wood.
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