Page 1913 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
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MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, Mr Moore can be sure that the agreement we have signed is one we have gone into willingly. We will fulfil all the requirements of that agreement. I am not sure of the timetable for the reporting that Mr Moore wants. I will check on that and give him the details.
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. The other part of the question that I am interested in having answered is this: Will you make the report available to members of the Assembly, or publicly, for that matter?
MR WOOD: Well, that is the same thing. Madam Speaker, I will look at the report. I would see that it is in the interests of us all. I am quite prepared to be open about it. I see no reason why I would not be doing that. I have to say that I have not yet attended to that whole process of reporting, and I will do so.
Bed Tax
MR KAINE: I address a question to the Treasurer. Yesterday morning, as part of your continuing campaign of not informing the public about what you are going to do about next year's budget, you spent about 10 minutes with Matt Abraham on his show. One of the questions that you declined to answer was whether or not there is to be a bed tax on tourists introduced next year. Would you enlighten this house as to whether a bed tax for tourists is one of the new taxes that you are going to raise to close your budget gap this year?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, I think Mr Kaine is referring to an interview which I did this morning, not yesterday morning. Time flies when you are having fun, I know. As I said to Mr Abraham, I am not about to pre-empt the budget at this stage of its consideration. The Government is presently engaged in consultation with peak bodies in the ACT on budget matters. In addition to that consultation phase, there are a couple of other hurdles that we have to get over before it is possible finally to put the budget together. Those are the Premiers Conference in July and the Commonwealth's own budget, which is expected in August. The Premiers Conference will tell us how much the Commonwealth will give us by way of a general revenue grant and the Commonwealth's budget will make clear, especially, the specific purpose payments that we will be receiving for the coming year. Until we have that information, Madam Speaker, I cannot really put a budget together.
I can say, as I said this morning, that the Government is considering all available revenues - I repeat, all available revenues - in view of the very severe budget position in which we find ourselves. Having said that, Madam Speaker, this issue of a bed tax has come up in successive years. It has been considered and it has been rejected. For this year, as I say, I am not about to pre-empt the outcome of the budget and I am not about to rule out any particular revenue measure. That is my answer on bed taxes, just as it would be my answer on pool lane hire charges, or any other revenues. We are looking at the complete range of revenue options available to the Government.
MR KAINE: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Since that answer was an equivocal yes, could the Chief Minister tell us whether she is thinking of one per cent or 2 per cent?
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