Page 1916 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 16 June 1993
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Madam Speaker, I was concerned about reports of violence in Tuggeranong. That has had an appropriate police response. I noted that the person reported on the front page said that it was a great police response, although that was not conveyed in the headline. The suggestion that crime is somehow out of control in Tuggeranong is wrong and creates, very much, a misleading impression for citizens of the valley. A couple of years ago when it was suggested by the Canberra Times that the valley was an area where crime was growing at a rapid rate, that it was the crime capital of Canberra, the Valley View responded vigorously in defence of its own readership and citizens, and I was disappointed to see it taking a contrary view. That is not to suggest any complacency; Tuggeranong is the rapidly growing area of Canberra. The decision to reallocate command responsibilities and create a fourth district with specific command for Tuggeranong was reached after many months. The police management union working group, which I set up some months ago to manage police resources and to deal with future resourcing issues, was the forum from which this idea grew. I commend everyone involved in the idea. I am sure that what it will mean for residents of Tuggeranong is a better police response because the officer in charge of the district and accessible to the people will have direct control over allocating resources within the Tuggeranong Valley.
Petrol Prices
MR WESTENDE: Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Attorney-General in his capacity as the Minister having responsibility for consumer affairs. Is it not true that the Minister, last Friday night on WIN television, advocated that ACT motorists boycott service stations in the ACT and go across the border? Are the Government and, for that matter, the business community in the ACT so well off that both can afford to lose that revenue? Is this something that this Government will advocate? Is the Minister further aware that the retailers in fact have absorbed four price increases, on 29 April, 13 May, 3 June and 10 June? It was the retailers who were forced to increase the prices because the wholesale price had gone up with the Prices Surveillance Authority recommendation. Could the Minister assure this house that he will not further advocate that motorists go interstate, when it is not the service stations' fault that prices have to be increased?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, when the oil companies put petrol onto the retail market in Canberra at 74.9c per litre and put petrol onto the retail market an hour's drive up the road at a price in the low sixties, I will not urge Canberra motorists to pay the high price in Canberra. I will say, "Consumers, vote with your feet and express your disappointment and resentment at the way the oil companies treat this market with contempt", as they do. We have to make it clear to the oil companies that the Canberra public will not tolerate the continued outrageous approach that they offer to Canberra. It is totally unacceptable that we are paying, consistently, 8c and more above prices that are paid elsewhere.
Mr De Domenico: Take off your 3c petrol levy.
MR CONNOLLY: That is a silly comment. I was going to use an unparliamentary term. That is a silly statement, Mr De Domenico; I will not say that it is a stupid comment. It is a silly comment because the petrol tax that is paid in Canberra, the 3c, is in fact lower than the petrol tax that is paid in New South Wales. Therefore, one would expect the price of petrol in Canberra, all things being equal, in a free market, to be lower; but it is, in fact, higher.
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