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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 4 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 954 ..
MS CARNELL (continuing):
We find that, even on quite conservative assumptions, the Impulse Airlines' project would have a strong positive impact on ACT employment, Gross Territory Product and budget revenues. Allowing for higher budget outlays required by higher population growth, the net impact on government finances is positive, even if there is a subsidy payment to the project's proponents.
And there is in this case. It makes the point quite clearly that they did not have a lot of time, because we needed to make this document available to members of this Assembly in the timeframe required. Why would you need to do that, Mr Speaker? I think all members who wanted to be briefed have been briefed. Impulse Airlines wants to be in the skies in July this year and we have a budget that we have to get onto the table in this place. If this money is to be agreed to, then fairly obviously it has to be added to the budget prior to us tabling . are two very good reasons.
But there was a third reason that I know members are aware of, and that is the fact that Impulse has agreed not to enter into the Dutch auctions that seem to be happening around Australia at the moment, which are won by States much bigger than we are, as happened with Virgin Airlines. Recently the Victorian Labor Government outbid the Western Australians for a golf tournament. Just yesterday, BHP IT ended up going to South Australia after a Dutch auction. This was not an auction. Impulse has given us an undertaking that they will not go to the market this month. So without the not very productive approach of much larger States outbidding us, we have an opportunity to make a sensible, rational and very public decision here.
MS TUCKER: I ask a supplementary question. Could you provide the Assembly, please, with any documents that show how the Government determined the amount of the assistance that was necessary - that is, why $8m?
MS CARNELL: Quite clearly, that was the amount of money that Impulse required to come to the ACT. It is certainly true that we could go to the market and see what other people would offer. Looking at what happened with Virgin, I would suggest that the amount of money would be significantly higher than what is currently on the table. That dollar value came from Impulse.
MR BERRY: My question is to the Treasurer. Is the Treasurer aware of the report in the latest Yellow Pages small business index that shows that support for the Federal Government's goods and services tax reform package has deteriorated sharply - surprise, surprise - in the last quarter? Is he was aware that in the ACT almost a third of small businesses now nominate the GST as their major concern?
MR HUMPHRIES
: Mr Speaker, I am aware of that. Last night I was at the Focus on Business dinner at Parliament House, where the Prime Minister spoke and in fact acknowledged that a very large number of problems had been described, in particular by opponents of this process, and had been thrown up in the path of the GST. He said that it was hardly surprising - in fact, it was to be expected - that a large number of untrue things would be said about the GST, the object being to make political capital out of
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