Crispin Hull

Behind the familiar gold-tiled columns of the South Building in Civic Square unbeknowns to many people in Canberra, the new ACT Legislative Assembly is under construction.

It is almost half-way through. The new $12.7 million Assembly is expected to be ready for occupation in February and the MLAs and their many support staff can move out of the present building in the ACT Administration Centre which costs $2 million a year to rent.

The Speaker, Roberta McRae, led some tours of the building yesterday _ the builders’ rostered day off.
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People who get injured at sport or being hit by vehicles from skateboards to trucks would no longer be eligible for criminal-injuries compensation under legislation introduced in the ACT Legislative Assembly yesterday.

The Attorney-General, Terry Connolly, said yesterday that the purpose of criminal-injuries was to compensate against violent crime. It was not for sports injuries or people being hit by cycles, as the Supreme Court had found in recent cases.

The new legislation would enable the Minister to declare categories of events that were not compensible, subject to disallowance. Cars, skateboards, sport and dog bites would not be compensible; these sorts of matters were better treated with insurance, civil damages or social security.
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Poker machine bets of up $10 a time will be allowed up laws passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly yesterday.

The law will permit linked jackpots with other clubs, to provide bigger jackpots and will permit clubs to increase the percentage of turnover on average paid out to players.

The Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, said the new rules would make clubs more competitive with NSW. The law would contain new anti-corruption provisions.
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The 1255-dwelling North Watson development would save the community $13 million, according to the Minister for Environment, Land and Planning, Bill Wood.

Mr Wood has referred to the development to an Assembly committee for further public comment.

The Watson Community Association, however, disputed his costings yesterday.
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The Left has not done as well as expected in the vote this week for the 40 members of the ACT pre-selection panel, according to Labor sources.

Of the 40, 25 are from the Left; 11 from the Right and four are independent.

Under the new collegiate system of pre-selection the 40 on the panel together will have an equal share of the vote as the mass membership.
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We saw another example of the Australian Labor Party’s great historic strength and weakness last week: stick by your mates. And especially stick by mates who have stuck by other mates in the past.

And thus the ACT Labor Government stuck by Charles Wright, defending his appointment as chairman of the ACT Tourism Advisory Board.

Looking at the public record in the companies office, the transcript of the proceedings of the WA Inc Royal Commission, the report of that commission, and what was said the Legislative Assembly, it is easy to conclude that Mr Wright is an unsuitable appointment and should be removed if he does not resign first.
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The ratepayers are restless. A meeting on Thursday night called to set up a ratepayers’ association was told that Kerry Packer has a much lower rates bill for his Sydney harbourside mansion than the upmarket places in Canberra.

It is an emotive example. However, it shows the sticky position the ACT Government has got itself into. Essentially, the ACT Government is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Peculiarly, the ACT embraces both local and state government functions. In the other states and territories they are divided. The local councils collect rates revenue and levy some other charges for the provision of services like garbage collection and road maintenance. The state governments collect revenue and levy charges to run schools and hospitals.
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One cannot help feeling a little like Voltaire when looking at Wayne Berry’s decision to put a hospice on Acton Peninsula.

I disagree with what he is doing, but I will defend (if not to the death at least in print) his right to do it.

It is troubling that the Deputy Prime Minister, Brian Howe, has chimed in on the issue and that Kate Carnell wants the Federal Parliament’s joint committee on the national capital to flick the respirator switch attached to Berry’s plans.
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This compares with an overall increase of 4.14 per cent in federal grants to states and territories. The precise way this will affect Canberrans will not be known until next month’s ACT Budget.

Per head the grant cut is $284, or 13.08 per cent on last year’s per head grant. The other states and territories will get an average per head increase of $60.

Federal grants made up a tad under a half of ACT Government revenue last year.

The Federal Budget also provides a 3.1 per cent cut in the Public Service. About 20,000 of the 160,000 Federal public servants work in the ACT, excluding ACT Administration public servants still under the Federal Act. It could translate into 600-odd jobs.

The total Federal grant of $568 million for 1993-94 (down from $640 million) reflects the transition to state-type funding for the ACT. Grants to all other states and territories were increased, except for a slight decrease for South Australia.

The ACT will get $1888 per head in Federal funding next financial year, down from $2172 this year. Four states do worse and three better, and the ACT is still above the average, reflecting some national-capital disabilities.

On the more cheerful side, the Budget provides $114 million over five years for purpose-built accommodation for the Australian Geological Survey Organisation.

Further, the ACT’s own budgetary affairs are in better order than any other state or territory. ACT debt as a ration of gross state product is about 3 per cent and interest on it is less than half a per cent of outlays. This compares to more than 30 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in the rust-belt states.

Co-incidentally, the Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, announced yesterday that the ACT Budget came in at about $60 million better than Budget and the Budget practically balanced. Expenditure was $31.1 less than budgeted.

This will put the ACT in a better position to meet the Federal cuts without less affect on programs and less need for new revenue measures. Still, the ACT has to find some $72 million.

The Budget papers revealed that at least some people in the ACT are doing well. One person report an income of more than $1 million and 12 reported incomes between $500,000 and $1 million.

The Leader of the ACT Opposition, Kate Carnell, accused the ACT Government of deception yesterday over funding for an abortion clinic.

She cited a Cabinet briefing made in May last year about strategies to fund and legislate for the clinic. The briefing was made public on the ABC’s Matt Abraham show yesterday.

The briefing suggested dealing with the issue early in the term so as not to prolong the agony. It nominated who in the Assembly would support a free-standing clinic and who would oppose. It warned that if it were delayed Independents Michael Moore and Helen Szuty might introduce a Bill. They would get any credit for introducing Labor’s policy and “”we would get the pain”.
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