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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-20 Daily Xml
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PAYROLL TAX

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:11): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Leader of the Government a question about his embarrassing time while he was acting treasurer.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Leave is granted, but you can leave out those wild opinions.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: The government promised during the election campaign to match the Liberal promise to amend the Payroll Tax Act to exempt trainees and apprentices from payroll tax as from 1 July 2010. The Commissioner of Taxation sent out a notice on 5 July advising businesses that the government had advised him that the parliament had been too busy to introduce the relevant legislation and the rebates would be postponed until at least 1 January 2011. My questions are:

1. Did the minister, as acting treasurer, instruct Treasury—

The Hon. B.V. Finnigan: He's not acting treasurer now.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: I didn't realise l was talking to you. Did the minister, as acting treasurer, instruct Treasury to delay the introduction of the payroll tax exemptions for apprentices and trainees until at least 1 January 2011 and, if he did not, who gave that instruction?

2. Given that parliament has been sitting for more than four full weeks since its opening day and adjourned early on nearly every one of those days, who advised the taxation commissioner that the parliament has been too busy and on what grounds was that advice given?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (15:13): In relation to the latter matters, I will refer them to the Treasurer's office. I am no longer the acting treasurer and those matters happened beforehand.

However, in relation to the issue of the parliamentary timetable, I think it is a little rich for the Leader of the Opposition to talk about us going home early when on the last Thursday of sitting I don't believe he was here, and I believe he is going off this evening when we have matters. That is fair enough, Mr President, because all of us have pairs. However, we have had the mining bill here, which was first introduced into this parliament back in November or December last year.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway: And last night you filed an amendment to it.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: Yes, I did. The reality is, as the honourable member well knows, we had an election this year that obviously delayed significantly the opening of parliament, so there were limited days before the end of the financial year. That is why the government had to give priority. It is not the hours that this parliament sits: it is whether members in this parliament are ready to discuss the legislation because—

The Hon. A. Bressington: That's a load of rubbish.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: It is not rubbish. The fact is, as I have said, some of the bills have been on the Notice Paper here for six months or more. I understand how this place works, and I think most members know that it generally works on a consensus basis of members being ready to debate and, because we have so many minor parties, there are often amendments, so it all takes a long time to get these things through. That is the reality, and any members who have worked in this place for any time understand that, and I think it ill behoves them to go out to the media and try to suggest, knowing how that works, that somehow or another you can get every bill through in a very short period.

I appreciate the cooperation that we get from members and I appreciate the cooperation we had from members here in getting a number of bills through before the end of the financial year, but there is a limited number, and I am sure if we had added another one or more to that list, that would have been pushing the limits of the time available. Whereas I am grateful for the support that we received at the time, there are limits. Now, as I said to the Leader of the Opposition's interjection, I will refer those instructions to the Treasurer; he is responsible for the advice.

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