Ms MARTIN - 1999-04-28
Yesterday’s announcement that the Country Liberal Party wants to lock in its high cost imposts through a revenue unit measure sent chills down the spines of Territory householders. Could the Chief Minister please explain which charges will be affected by this measure?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Labor Leader opposite can’t even read the question, let alone understand it, and certainly I’d refer that question to the Treasurer, because I didn’t understand it.
Mr Bailey: Because you don’t understand it either.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED (Treasurer): Mr Speaker, it’s a sign of the incompetence of the Leader of the Opposition, that yesterday, budget day, not one question was addressed to the Treasurer. I would have thought that it would have made parliamentary history in this country that the opposition didn’t ask the Treasurer a question in Question Time, before the budget was delivered. Quite extraordinary. And today, of course, the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t even know who to address the question to.
But in relation to the revenue units, the position is at the moment, with a range of charges across government, which are applied individually by agency, they are very difficult to update. They have to be updated individually, whether they be charges in the health system or other agencies. The proposal, will not have an impact on this year’s budget because they are matters that will have to, in all likelihood, come back to this House. There might be legislative change required, certainly regulatory change required. But instead of having a set fee for a particular charge, it is proposed that a revenue unit be applied. For example, a revenue unit might be $10. A charge might be $50 which would, of course, be 5 revenue units.
At the moment, to increase a $50 charge, a specific action is required in relation to that particular charge. If we standardise all charges of that type with revenue units - a specific number of revenue units - all that is required in the future to ...
Mr Bailey: A stroke of a pen.
Mr REED: You really do wonder if they want to learn anything. And you really do understand, with their interjections, how they don’t learn.
So, there is a capacity then for future governments to increase charges and to keep them in line. I gave an example, I think, yesterday in the budget speech where some charges were increased which hadn’t been increased since 1984. And business, interestingly, recognises that that is not a good practice.
Labor members opposite obviously wouldn’t, but if charges are going to be increased, it’s better to do them on a more regular basis in smaller increments than to be forced into larger increases that might have a bigger impost on industry. So, in the future, once the revenue unit process is applied, the government will have the capacity to …
Ms Martin: Water, sewerage, power…
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The government will have the capacity then to increase charges by simply …
Ms Martin: Stealth!
Mr REED: an increase to – well, not stealth, and that’s how the Leader of the Opposition conducts her approach to government business and to the economy. She believes it’s by stealth. Can you imagine any government having either the desire or the ability to increase a charge by stealth, because it would have to be done in the budgetary process and it would be announced as the increases that applied in this budget, few as they were yesterday.
In relation to a revenue unit, it would simply be a matter of advising in the budget that a revenue unit was to go up, for example, from $10 to $12 or $11, or whatever the increase might be, in a particular year a government takes the decision to increase it. It will be much easier for agencies to administer charges in the future and the charging process and how those fees are made up and structured will be much more evident and straight forward. Indeed, it’s a bit of open government, which the Leader of the Opposition is always asking for, that revenue units will be able to apply.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the Labor Leader opposite can’t even read the question, let alone understand it, and certainly I’d refer that question to the Treasurer, because I didn’t understand it.
Mr Bailey: Because you don’t understand it either.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED (Treasurer): Mr Speaker, it’s a sign of the incompetence of the Leader of the Opposition, that yesterday, budget day, not one question was addressed to the Treasurer. I would have thought that it would have made parliamentary history in this country that the opposition didn’t ask the Treasurer a question in Question Time, before the budget was delivered. Quite extraordinary. And today, of course, the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t even know who to address the question to.
But in relation to the revenue units, the position is at the moment, with a range of charges across government, which are applied individually by agency, they are very difficult to update. They have to be updated individually, whether they be charges in the health system or other agencies. The proposal, will not have an impact on this year’s budget because they are matters that will have to, in all likelihood, come back to this House. There might be legislative change required, certainly regulatory change required. But instead of having a set fee for a particular charge, it is proposed that a revenue unit be applied. For example, a revenue unit might be $10. A charge might be $50 which would, of course, be 5 revenue units.
At the moment, to increase a $50 charge, a specific action is required in relation to that particular charge. If we standardise all charges of that type with revenue units - a specific number of revenue units - all that is required in the future to ...
Mr Bailey: A stroke of a pen.
Mr REED: You really do wonder if they want to learn anything. And you really do understand, with their interjections, how they don’t learn.
So, there is a capacity then for future governments to increase charges and to keep them in line. I gave an example, I think, yesterday in the budget speech where some charges were increased which hadn’t been increased since 1984. And business, interestingly, recognises that that is not a good practice.
Labor members opposite obviously wouldn’t, but if charges are going to be increased, it’s better to do them on a more regular basis in smaller increments than to be forced into larger increases that might have a bigger impost on industry. So, in the future, once the revenue unit process is applied, the government will have the capacity to …
Ms Martin: Water, sewerage, power…
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr REED: The government will have the capacity then to increase charges by simply …
Ms Martin: Stealth!
Mr REED: an increase to – well, not stealth, and that’s how the Leader of the Opposition conducts her approach to government business and to the economy. She believes it’s by stealth. Can you imagine any government having either the desire or the ability to increase a charge by stealth, because it would have to be done in the budgetary process and it would be announced as the increases that applied in this budget, few as they were yesterday.
In relation to a revenue unit, it would simply be a matter of advising in the budget that a revenue unit was to go up, for example, from $10 to $12 or $11, or whatever the increase might be, in a particular year a government takes the decision to increase it. It will be much easier for agencies to administer charges in the future and the charging process and how those fees are made up and structured will be much more evident and straight forward. Indeed, it’s a bit of open government, which the Leader of the Opposition is always asking for, that revenue units will be able to apply.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016