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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (21 August) . . Page.. 3045 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

Who can forget the aborted bushfire reconstruction levy? It was another in a series of blunders by this government. The bushfire tax was just a knee-jerk reaction. It was clear from the start that, with the insurance prudently taken out by the Canberra Liberals and with Commonwealth assistance, the government never needed this tax. It says a lot about the Labor mentality that the first thing they thought of was a new tax.

On the matter of Commonwealth financial assistance, let me remind the people of Canberra that Mr Cornwell had to prompt the Chief Minister on several occasions before he even bothered to send a letter to the Prime Minister. As usual, the Chief Minister was all words and no action. Perhaps he was just waiting for another review, or perhaps he was just enormously complacent, as he said last Tuesday.

Revenue from land sales has been at record levels, making it obvious that the bushfire reconstruction tax was totally unneeded. At the time, the ACT was on the road to recording a surplus of $100 million. That was before Mr Corbell and the saga of the bouncing cheque jeopardised $38 million of it, so $115 million may well have been $153 million, but the government has bounced back and has actually picked up $42 million to go into this year's budget from that failed land sale. Really, Mr Speaker, these people have no idea how to run a business or a government.

Mr Quinlan, after caving in and giving up on the bushfire reconstruction tax, expressed his regret on learning that Ms Tucker was prepared to support it, which was really quite peculiar because if anything unites Labor and the Greens it is the hunger for more taxation. The bushfire levy is the classic illustration of this Treasurer's penchant for introducing a tax and then asking questions later.

Labor introduced a parking space levy which they anticipated would raise $2.5 million. This tax would hammer not only local businesses, but also hotels and motels providing guest parking. When quizzed at the estimates process, Labor had no idea how many parking spots it would affect or who would be affected. Even the charities may well have been hit.

Mr Speaker, the money will not go towards public transport or improving services, but instead will go straight into the Treasury, making it clear that the government's aim is simply to raise revenue. This government is now introducing continuous car registration, but we all remember the cries of outrage from those opposite when I tried to introduce that measure. Labor's outrage has died down and obviously was phoney in the first place.

This government has also increased fees and charges for a variety of everyday services, raising an additional $350,000. In the 2002-03 budget the government provided for the introduction of pay parking in Belconnen and Tuggeranong. As a result, we had ordinary workers picketing the Labor Party conference recently in protest at this measure and protests by students at Lake Tuggeranong College, the only college students in Canberra who have to pay to park when they go to school.

Mr Speaker, this government increased the number of speed cameras and red light cameras, purportedly as a road safety measure. While it may reduce the number of crashes, who can forget the unprincipled opposition of Mr Hargreaves as Labor

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