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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (9 May) . . Page.. 1288 ..
Mr Hargreaves: I did not say that.
MR HUMPHRIES: I thought that is what you said. You said that the ACT has been classified as a metropolitan area, I thought.
Mr Hargreaves: No, I did not.
MR HUMPHRIES: Okay. You said words to that effect, I think.
Mr Hargreaves: No, I did not.
MR HUMPHRIES: If that is the case, I am very pleased to hear that he has the facts right, Mr Speaker. The fact is that there are parts of the ACT which are not included in the metropolitan area for the purposes of the diesel fuel rebate.
Mr Stanhope: Which bits?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mitchell is one, Hume is another. I think Oaks Estate is another.
Ms Carnell: Hall.
MR HUMPHRIES: It could be Hall. Tharwa is one of those areas. I am not sure about Hall. It could be Hall as well. I will check if members are interested in that, Mr Speaker. Parts of the ACT are excluded. However, I certainly would not like to see businesses relocating within the ACT or, worse still perhaps, relocating from Canberra to Queanbeyan in order to take advantage of these diesel subsidies. That would clearly be a nonsense.
Our position has been quite clear. We think that the situation announced is not satisfactory. We have made representations to the federal government to that effect and we hope that there will be some modification of the federal government's position as a result of our representations on this subject.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, do you have a supplementary question?
MR HARGREAVES: I have, Mr Speaker. My supplementary question is: is the Treasurer's failure to protect Canberra business from the ravages of the GST linked in any way to the comment of his federal counterpart, Peter Costello, on last week's Sunday program when he said:
Not one cent of the GST goes to Canberra. It goes to Premiers Carr and Bracks and Beattie.
What does it say about the real attitude of the federal government to the ACT Liberal government if it was not consulted over this issue?
MR HUMPHRIES
: Mr Speaker, I think Mr Hargreaves is twisting the words. I did not hear the interview as I was not here, but I think he is twisting the words of the federal Treasurer. When referring to Canberra, I think he is referring to the federal government,
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