Page 4611 - Week 15 - Tuesday, 6 December 1994
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Madam Speaker, I am quite happy to support this Bill in principle so that we have the opportunity to raise the expected revenue. Madam Speaker, the concern that Mr Kaine and Ms Szuty have raised is a sensible concern, and I am sure that the Chief Minister also shares their views about the outside possibility - and I think that at the most it is only an outside possibility - that in some way this provision might be misused, perhaps by somebody setting up a junket system to take people out of Canberra and then bring them back in, or something along those lines. I do not know that it can be abused, but I think that possibility ought to be looked at very carefully. There is no doubt that that can be done under the sunset clause proposed by Mr Kaine. That mechanism would allow the proposed system to come into operation quite quickly. This Bill has come before us quite quickly. The Government has responded very quickly to requests from the casino. Most importantly, the Government has responded quickly so that the ACT has the opportunity to gain some extra revenue. I think that is a very positive feature of having a fairly small Assembly where such things can be dealt with quickly and efficiently when the occasions are appropriate.
Madam Speaker, therefore, I am not only inclined to support the Bill in principle but also inclined to support the sunset clause unless I hear some very strong argument against it. I think this may be an appropriate time for a sunset clause that would let the Bill be put in place, be tried and then, effectively, be forced into a review process.
MS FOLLETT (Chief Minister and Treasurer) (9.24), in reply: I would like to thank members who have spoken on this legislation. I can understand members' discomfort with it. It is something new, and it is a rather odd notion for us here in the ACT. I think that that discomfort is also explained by the fact that the casino has not operated this junket business to date; it is an entirely new undertaking that they are considering.
I would like to address a few of the issues that were raised by various speakers. Mr Kaine made a comment that no sooner had the casino raised this matter than "the Government immediately proceeded to legislation". That is not the case, Madam Speaker. My view of the matter is that it was under discussion for quite some months, and those discussions culminated in the legislation which the Government has brought forward. However, I would like to say that I consider the matter to have a time critical element to it. I think I mentioned that in introducing the legislation. The time critical element is, of course, the proposed opening of the casino in Sydney. It seems to me to be very important that we allow the Canberra casino to take advantage of what is a quite small window of opportunity to get in on the junket market, if indeed there is one, and establish themselves before the Sydney casino has the opportunity to do so. Madam Speaker, I think that we ought to exploit that little timing advantage if it is at all possible to do so because, as some speakers have said, the junket operation, if it is successful, will mean a considerable increase in revenue to the Territory.
Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine referred to the different rates of tax that apply to junket operations in different States, and he pointed out, quite rightly, that the ACT's proposed tax at 10 per cent is on the low side. There are some disadvantages for the casino in trying to attract junket business to the ACT, and I referred to them in introducing the legislation. I believe that you could consider Canberra to have a geographical disadvantage in trying to attract this kind of business. For one thing, we do not have an international airport and, quite clearly, those Australian cities that do have an international
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