Page 1933 - Week 05 - Thursday, 3 May 2012
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MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (12.15): Again I am drawn to the unfortunate situation we find ourselves in by Mr Smyth’s remarks. What was quite clear was that I had given my amendment to the Liberal Party before Mr Seselja went to the Liberal Party conspiracy cupboard on this one and I had made it very clear as to why I thought this amendment was necessary. So this Assembly could—
Mr Coe: Point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I ask whether the speaker is reflecting on a vote of the Assembly.
Mr Hargreaves: On the point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, which vote of the Assembly is Mr Coe referring to?
Mr Smyth: The one that we just had.
MR RATTENBURY: On the point of order, it was also the same one Mr Smyth was just discussing, Madam Deputy Speaker.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes. There is no point of order. Mr Rattenbury, continue, please.
MR RATTENBURY: My simple point was that Mr Smyth has highlighted a point which we sought to address, but he could not bring himself to address it when it came to the crunch, when it came to the actual vote. Similarly, Mrs Dunne, who sits on the scrutiny of bills committee here which recommended a similar amendment, when it actually came to the vote put politics over principle and failed to support what her own committee had recommended be done with this bill.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development) (12.16): The opposition seek to assert that in some way the briefing that was provided to them by my officials is different from the position that the government has adopted in relation to this matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is not a case that I am wrong or my officials are wrong or the briefing is wrong. It is a case that the Liberals are wrong. And the reason for that is that under the slideshow—we have to reduce it to a slideshow for those opposite of course—it outlines:
Business activities
Will broadly follow VEET business measures
What does “VEET business measures” apply to? It applies to small and medium enterprises. It does not apply to big business.
The Victorian government is actually considering including lifting the threshold and making these measures eligible to larger businesses, because they see the economic benefit of doing so. But that is in a larger economy where they have got a range of different circumstances from those in the ACT. But it is interesting that the Liberal government in Victoria thinks this type of legislation is so effective that it wants to potentially extend it to larger enterprises. That is in marked contrast to the position of the local Liberals.
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