Mr EDE - 1994-06-28
Mr Speaker, on 17 May in this Assembly, the Chief Minister said that it 'is not uncommon for governments to raise taxes after elections'. Given that the CLP has no mandate for any increase in taxes and charges, will he give Territorians a categorical assurance that the CLP will not increase taxes or charges or introduce any new taxes or charges over the next 4 years in order to fund the $1000m-worth of promises made in the election campaign?
ANSWER
The Leader of the Opposition is attempting to be pedantic, funny, simply cute or perhaps stupid. Quite clearly, nothing I said during the election campaign or the pre-election campaign indicates that the Territory government gave a commitment not to touch any taxes or charges over a full term. I do not think that he gave any such undertakings either.
Mr Ede: We detailed ours. They were fully costed and fully funded.
Mr PERRON: As members and the community well know, in the budget that is before the Assembly at present, there is a commitment to no new taxes or charges being introduced. Indeed, a series of bills will be introduced into the Assembly today. As part of the current budget, the Payroll Tax Amendment Bill reduces very significantly the payroll tax burden for a large number of businesses in the Northern Territory. Changes to stamp duty will make certain financial transactions cheaper for Territorians. Those commitments stand. No particular commitments were given for the period beyond the current budget - that is, beyond the coming financial year. It would be nonsensical for the Leader of the Opposition to suggest otherwise.
I do not know how the Leader of the Opposition arrived at the figure of $1000m-worth of promises. If he costed our policies in anything like the way that he costed his own policies, he will be in a terrible mess. One of the great faux pas of the entire election campaign was the Leader of the Opposition's attempt to respond to community concerns about the cost of implementing his promises. It was a complete farce and it was a journalist, not an economist, who identified a mistake that amounted to millions of dollars at that press conference.
Mr Coulter: $12m.
Mr Ede: It was totally wrong.
Mr PERRON: That was only the start.
Mr Ede: The Institute of Public Affairs said that we were right.
Mr PERRON: That was only the start of it. It became worse and worse in the following 48 hours, thereby adding to the litany of problems that he had during the campaign.
Page 1
ANSWER
The Leader of the Opposition is attempting to be pedantic, funny, simply cute or perhaps stupid. Quite clearly, nothing I said during the election campaign or the pre-election campaign indicates that the Territory government gave a commitment not to touch any taxes or charges over a full term. I do not think that he gave any such undertakings either.
Mr Ede: We detailed ours. They were fully costed and fully funded.
Mr PERRON: As members and the community well know, in the budget that is before the Assembly at present, there is a commitment to no new taxes or charges being introduced. Indeed, a series of bills will be introduced into the Assembly today. As part of the current budget, the Payroll Tax Amendment Bill reduces very significantly the payroll tax burden for a large number of businesses in the Northern Territory. Changes to stamp duty will make certain financial transactions cheaper for Territorians. Those commitments stand. No particular commitments were given for the period beyond the current budget - that is, beyond the coming financial year. It would be nonsensical for the Leader of the Opposition to suggest otherwise.
I do not know how the Leader of the Opposition arrived at the figure of $1000m-worth of promises. If he costed our policies in anything like the way that he costed his own policies, he will be in a terrible mess. One of the great faux pas of the entire election campaign was the Leader of the Opposition's attempt to respond to community concerns about the cost of implementing his promises. It was a complete farce and it was a journalist, not an economist, who identified a mistake that amounted to millions of dollars at that press conference.
Mr Coulter: $12m.
Mr Ede: It was totally wrong.
Mr PERRON: That was only the start.
Mr Ede: The Institute of Public Affairs said that we were right.
Mr PERRON: That was only the start of it. It became worse and worse in the following 48 hours, thereby adding to the litany of problems that he had during the campaign.
Page 1
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016