Page 2592 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 24 August 1994
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MR HUMPHRIES: I will put it this way to the Assembly, Madam Speaker: If there is no problem with late payment of accounts, if this Government has licked the issue and does not need to worry ever again about a government department making a late payment, where is the problem in passing the legislation today?
Mr Lamont: Great one, Gary!
MR HUMPHRIES: No; where is the problem? If you do not ever have to face a problem of undisputed accounts being paid later than 30 days after being properly invoiced, then you would have to say that there is no harm in passing the legislation. The fact of life is, Madam Speaker, that there is an ongoing problem. I concede that the ACT probably has a better record than most other places; but that is not to say that there is not any good reason why it should have any problem or that there is not any issue where citizens, particularly small businesses in this town, can come back to the Government and say, "I cannot get my bills paid because some government department is mucking me about".
You on that side of the chamber know that it does happen. We have all had complaints about these things taking place. It should not be the case. I think it is fair to expect the Government to set a high standard. If I pay my rates late, I am hit with a very substantial interest rate. If I pay my water rates and my sewerage rates late, the same rules apply. My land tax is in the same boat. I think it is only fair to say that the Government should live by the standards which it sets. There is an incentive in this Bill for government agencies to seek to negotiate discounts in those contracts, those commercial arrangements which the Chief Minister referred to. That also is an appropriate arrangement to enter into. But there does need to be some incentive for managers of budgets in our government agencies to manage those accounts in such a way that these late payments do not occur. If you are managing an agency budget and you happen to be running down to 30 June and you do not have the budget on target, the temptation to let somebody else pay for your problems is very great. It has happened, it does happen, and this legislation is designed to avoid that problem happening in the future or at least to ensure that a penalty is paid if it does occur.
MR MOORE: Madam Speaker, I seek leave to make a further comment.
Leave granted.
MR MOORE: In Mr Humphries's speech he dealt with the question of where an account is in dispute. His response to an interjection from me on that subject was that it is well covered in the legislation. Let me say, with respect to Mr Humphries, that I have read the legislation carefully on a number of occasions and I seem to be missing this particular point. To me, it is a critical point. I think I would have to ask Mr Humphries to seek leave, as I have, or, under standing order 47, to explain where it is in his Bill that this is covered, or to take the Bill away and ensure that it does deal with this particular issue, which is a critical issue as far as I am concerned.
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