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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (30 August) . . Page.. 3761 ..

MR QUINLAN (continuing):

The target is calculated by dividing the total taxation revenue detected by compliance activities by the average number of compliance inspectors employed ...

So our target is: as much as we have done. It is a rather circular process, and you have just relied on it and told this place it is okay because we have exceeded target.

Mr Smyth: On a point of order: that is hardly a supplementary. Supplementaries are meant to be concise, without preamble and relevant to the original question.

MR QUINLAN: Yes, and must not embarrass the government. Is that implied?

Mr Smyth: You have to be better organised.

MR QUINLAN: Okay. It is my last day; I am taking whatever licence I can, thank you.

Chief Minister, since there has been so much talk about benchmarking and the review of performance measures, do you intend to review the performance measures that you have relied on? They have been bagged in this report.

MR HUMPHRIES: First of all, as is usual for the opposition, they have looked at the things they consider to be problems or flaws arising from this report. In fact, the report from the Auditor-General is very positive. The Auditor is very positive about the administration of payroll tax. I table a summary of the comments made by the Auditor-General in his report on payroll tax, in which he compliments the administration of payroll tax on the part of the government. Overwhelmingly, that is positive about the report. I present the following paper:

Payroll tax-Auditor General Report No 5, 2001, positive comments from the report.

When Mr Stanhope made a comment about payroll tax, he said that the report had found that the government "seriously mismanaged payroll tax assessment and collections". I am sorry, but words of that kind do not appear anywhere in the report of the Auditor-General.

Mr Stanhope: That is what he meant.

MR HUMPHRIES: Oh, that is what he meant? I am pleased to say that we now no longer need to read the Auditor-General's reports; we just have to ask Mr Stanhope what he meant. He might not have said it, but he meant it in a different way. Nowhere in the report is there a comment of the Auditor-General demanding immediate action to overhaul the payroll tax assessment and collection practices and procedures.

Mr Stanhope: The report says this government is incompetent.

MR HUMPHRIES: You must have the expurgated version, Mr Stanhope, because mine does not say that anywhere.

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