Page 845 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 2 May 2007
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“(i) completed a wide ranging review of its concession program in 2002; and
(ii) is yet to respond to or release the findings of this review; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) conduct a current review into concessions; and
(b) present the findings to the Assembly by December 2007.”.
Members will see in that amendment that we are supportive of a review into concessions and that the findings of that review should be presented to the Assembly by December 2007. This has a bit of a story behind it which I have recently become aware of as it was not part of my portfolio until the change last year. We have gone back to have a look at it. Essentially, the review was commissioned in the last stages of the previous Liberal government and then picked up by us when came into government. The review was finalised in 2002.
Dr Foskey is right in the sense that she says that the government has not formally responded to or released the findings of that review. The reason behind that was essentially because we did not agree with the options that were put forward as a result of that work. The review, again from my quick understanding of this topic, nominated about four options on how to proceed with concessions, none of which were to enhance concessions or make concessions more favourable. It appears that the work commenced with perhaps some riding instructions which I was not around to see at the time and which had sought that that work be completed in a budget neutral sense.
The four options that came forward through that piece of work were unpalatable to the government. It recommended winding back a range of concessions across those options—for example, winding back pensioner concessions on transport, concessions on vehicle registration, concessions for school children or young people. Essentially, the work stopped there. That is the reason why it has not been made more public.
The work that was originally done in the review of those concessions is about four years old. It is timely to have a good look at it now in light of some of the issues that Dr Foskey has raised in her speech as well—not just local issues but issues on welfare to work, work choices legislation and the potential impact that those may have had particularly on concession cardholders. We are very happy to do that work. It would be an interesting piece of work. I thank Dr Foskey for pushing this because it is something that we perhaps would have wanted to do anyway.
It has a troubled history, in a sense. The concern of the government in releasing information that we did not agree to was the perception that this was the way the government wanted to head. If that information had been released, it may have been misunderstood in the community that this was something the government endorsed. I want to say very clearly that the government did not endorse the work. We did not agree with the recommendations of that review, and that is why the work was never progressed any further. It is interesting information to have.
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