Page 4049 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 24 October 1990
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An incident having occurred in the gallery -
MR SPEAKER: Order! Please remove the demonstrators.
MR COLLAERY: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The question was: what comment do I have about recent media reports that there are concerns about a proposed new liquor licence fee collection system based on a quarterly return of liquor sold? The principal complaint is from certain suppliers who believe that they cannot turn their stock around in the assessing period. I believe that concern needs to be looked at. It will be addressed and we will try to fine tune the collection system.
But our ACT Government lost, in the last financial year, a total of $444,965.70. Of that sum unpaid, one defaulter owed $247,000 and another sum of $100,000 is estimated to be owed by that licensee for a further period.
Mr Speaker, a football club also is in default in the sum of about $18,000 and, from memory, there is a supermarket in default for a somewhat lesser sum. There are significant and sizeable defaults in the system. The system is patterned on something that has probably gone on for 50 years. It is out of date and needs an overhaul. I authorised and instructed the Law Office to overhaul the system.
The proposal they have made seems to have some teething problems, but the Government fully stands by its commitment to collect these fees and ensure that there is no loss to revenue of the extraordinary nature that has occurred. I am sure the members opposite who criticise the Government for this are well aware of what a liquidation or section 10 arrangement means in this area. A supplier can simply go into liquidation months and months after the liquor has been taken in and sold and, in effect, the return that should have gone to the Government has gone elsewhere.
Mr Speaker, we defend our Government from that criticism but undertake, on behalf of those genuine people who may not be able to turn a large stock over inside a quarterly period, that we will do all we can to ensure that they do not have to pay in advance of sales. But I put this to the house, Mr Speaker: Clubs mainly draw their revenue from over-the-counter sales where there is a high turnover from their cellar. How they can knock up these debts and then knock the Government for wanting a quarterly collection, I do not know.
Political Parties - Headquarters
MR MOORE: My question is directed to the Chief Minister. If you will bear with me for a minute, Chief Minister, I will just give a little preamble from an article by Pilita Clark that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of days ago. It said:
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