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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (25 November) . . Page.. 3722 ..

Leave granted.

MS CARNELL: As always, I ask members to respect the confidentiality of the information in these documents. I would like to thank members for respecting that confidentiality in the past.

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (3.28): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Government's response to Report No. 21 of the Standing Committee for the Chief Minister's Portfolio, entitled "Review of Auditor-General's Report No. 1, 1999 - Stamp duty on motor vehicle registrations". The report was presented to the Assembly on 26 August 1999. I move:

I am pleased to present this report in response to the Standing Committee for the Chief Minister's Portfolio report. The Auditor-General, in his report of 25 March 1999, concluded that there were inadequate procedures and controls to provide reasonable assurance that the correct duty is fully imposed on the registration of new and used vehicles. The Auditor-General estimated a resulting tax loss of up to $500,000 per annum. The report specifically criticised the lack of procedures and controls at the point of registration and the limited compliance activities.

The Government's submission to the standing committee in May 1999 recognised the need for greater procedures and controls upon registration and for the compliance program to be formalised in greater detail. The Government did, however, submit that the compliance procedures were adequate and disagreed with the Auditor-General's estimates of the potential revenue loss. The review by the standing committee recommended to the Assembly that the Government confirm that the new procedures and controls are in place and provide details of the compliance program resulting from the suggestion contained in the Auditor-General's report.

Mr Speaker, in consultation with Road User Services, Department of Urban Services, new procedures and controls have been implemented on the registration of vehicles. These procedures and controls include: Distribution by the Department of Urban Services of information pamphlets and informing customers at the point of registration of their responsibility to declare the correct value of their vehicles for tax purposes; the provision by the Department of Urban Services to the Commissioner for ACT Revenue of a monthly report of all transactions, with the department also informing the commissioner of transactions that appear suspicious and not within reasonable values; the amendment by the Department of Urban Services of the application for transfer of registration form to include a section for the previous owner to include the sale price,

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