Page 3887 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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Business Bankruptcies
MRS GRASSBY: I would like to ask a question of the Chief Minister. I refer the Chief Minister to the dramatic increase in business bankruptcies in Canberra. Can the Chief Minister provide any action taken to prevent the collapse of ACT industry?
MR KAINE: The question somehow implies that the Government should be stepping into the ring and preventing bankruptcies. I do not quite know how Mrs Grassby imagines that, firstly, we would be able to anticipate which companies might be on the verge of insolvency or bankruptcy and, secondly, what we should do to fix it even if we were aware.
I think, first of all, that the scaremongering that was precipitated by the Canberra Times article - which I have to say was totally misinformed or uninformed on the situation - is quite regrettable. When things are tough, to print information which is totally wrong, which is not based on any facts whatsoever, and which is guaranteed to cause yet more concern I think is, to say the least, regrettable.
Mrs Grassby: So, the Canberra Times is wrong, is it?
MR KAINE: Yes, the Canberra Times is wrong, Mrs Grassby, and if you listen I will give you the facts. Firstly, prior to March 1990, ACT bankruptcy data was combined with New South Wales, so there is no historical information on the number of bankruptcies in the ACT before March 1990. Secondly, information on the total number of bankruptcy registrations lodged in the ACT is available on a quarterly basis. This information does not currently include the number of business versus personal bankruptcies. It does not include the number of bankruptcies specifically for ACT residents, because New South Wales residents in the surrounding district tend to lodge their bankruptcy notices in the ACT. It does not include information about the industry in which the business operated. It does not contain any information about the cause of the bankruptcy.
Mr Speaker, we have been recording bankruptcy registrations in the ACT only since 1 April this year. In the first quarter, ended June, there were 70 registered. In the second quarter, ended September, there were 92 - an increase of 31 per cent. To my recollection, the figure that appeared on the front page of the Canberra Times this morning was 64 per cent. This is absolutely absurd, and based on no known information.
It should be noted, Mr Speaker, that the figures that I have quoted include both personal and business bankruptcies for the ACT and the surrounding region. The Canberra Times article implied, if it did not specifically state it, that those figures reflected only ACT small business bankruptcies. That is totally untrue.
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