Page 4794 - Week 15 - Thursday, 8 December 1994
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MS FOLLETT: The fact of the matter is that it was under the Liberal stewardship, under Mr Kaine as Chief Minister and Treasurer, that the rates in Canberra experienced by far their largest rise, and that was of 16.6 per cent. That was a deliberate decision of the Government. As Mr Kaine knows only too well, there are many factors that influence any increase in rates. One of the chief factors is the underlying value of the unimproved land. Mrs Carnell pretends not to understand this. I think she is pretending, but I am a generous person.
Mr De Domenico: The people at Downer do not think so.
MS FOLLETT: I would not count on that. The unimproved capital value of land is the primary determinant of the size of the increase in rates. The unimproved - - -
Mrs Carnell: Under your policy.
Mr De Domenico: Under your policy, your Government's policy.
Mrs Carnell: It is not set in stone.
Mr Cornwell: I do not think that is right.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
MS FOLLETT: I am happy to continue to try to answer the question, but not to the point where I have to shout. The unimproved capital value is determined not by the Government but by the Australian Valuation Office, an independent body. In reaching their valuations they take into account a number of factors, but the primary factor they take into account is the recent sales experience in that area - in other words, the market prices that properties have been fetching in that area. It is, indeed, the Government's policy to base valuations on the advice of an independent body, and I would be amazed if Mrs Carnell, or Mr Kaine, her Treasury spokesman, so-called, were to take a different point of view.
Mr Humphries: I raise a point of order. The Chief Minister was clearly asked how an average Canberran living in the suburb of Downer could afford to pay 48 per cent more in rates. She was not asked about Government policy. She was asked about how these people, these citizens of Canberra, are supposed to be able to pay rates. That is the issue.
Mr Lamont: What have you been smoking?
MADAM SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs Carnell: That was the question.
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