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Bryant says 'spend more'
The Minister for the
Capital Territory, Mr
Bryant, has called for
more consumer spend-
ing.
He said yesterday that
people were earning more
money at present which
they ought to be injecting
into the economy.
Speaking after dis-
cussions with ACT
employers about the
granting of extra holi-
days, he said that there
was every reason to feel
confident about the econ-
omy.
In the ACT especially,
he said, actions were
being taken to stimulate
consumer demand, par-
ticularly in house build-
ing. But Government ac-
tions throughout the
economy was being
designed to stimulate it.
Despite agreements to
disagree at the meeting
yesterday, the employer
representatives, Mr John
Dallas, from the
Employers Federation,
and Mr Don Alexander,
from the Canberra
Chamber of Commerce,
expressed some con-
fidence, not about rever-
sing the three extra pub-
lic holidays this Christ-
mas, but about declara-
tions of public holidays
in the future.
Mr Bryant, as he fore-
shadowed earlier this
week, refused to with-
draw the holidays he had
declared for Friday De-
cember 27, Saturday, De-
cember 28, and Monday
December 30, but gave
employers a sympathetic
hearing on what they re-
garded as bad effects of
his decision, as well as
some encouragement in
the belief that he would
not make any decisions
in the future without full
consultation with employ-
er organisations.
A statement by the
Mr J. Dallas, of the ACT Employers Federation, left, Mr Bryant, and Mr D. W. Alexander, of the Canberra Chamber of Commerce, in Melbourne yesterday. Help
Mr J. Dallas, of the ACT Employers Federation, left, Mr Bryant,
and Mr D. W. Alexander, of the Canberra Chamber of Commerce,
in Melbourne yesterday.
Employers Federation
and the ACT Chamber
of Commerce after the
meeting in Melbourne
said, "We believe that
that at the time the deci-
sion was made, he [Mr
Bryant] may not have
fully appreciated the
additional costs the deci-
sion would involve for
the private sector, which
we estimate to be in the
vicinity of $1.75 million
in wages, nor the loss in
turnover, which we esti-
mate to be in the vicinity
of $1.5 million".
'Unduly
pessimistic'
In an interview after
the meeting, Mr Bryant
appeared to accept the
point, although he argued
that retailers were being
unduly pessimistic about
the overall cost.
He said that while the
pattern of spending might
change in terms of time,
the overall amount of
spending would be about
the same.
What would happen in
the main was that people
would tend to buy food
and essentials in the days
before Christmas and
store them, keeping ag-
gregate sales at about the
same level.
He thought retailers
were inclined to be to pes-
simistic about the results
of the declaration of the
holidays, which he had
done primarily out of a
concern to allow families,
in the special situation of
Canberra, to get together
at Christmas.
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