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1 PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
□ $5 NOTE: Gordon Scholes (Lab,
Vic) said his private Member's Bill
on the Reserve Bank would force
the Reserve Bank to place new de
signs for banknotes on the table of
both Houses of Parliament for
agreement or veto.
The Reserve Bank board had no
expertise in graphic design and its
decision to replace Caroline Chis
holm with the Queen on the new $5
note showed this, he said.
□ ILLEGAL DRUGS: Jim Snow
(Lab, NSW) said the Federal Gov
ernment should act with the states
to oversee the legal sale of drugs of
addiction such as heroin, cocaine
and amphetamines. Prohibition
had only increased drug use.
The Opposition health spokes
man, Bob Woods, said he could
understand why people would want
to prescribe drugs for addicts but
experience in Sweden showed drug
addicts increased their habit rather
than reduced it.
GRIEVANCE DEBATE:
□ ASC: Frank Ford (Lib, Vic) said
an Australian Securities Commis
sion officer terrorised the staff of his
business in Melbourne, threatening
them with penalties when they had
no authority to deal with the com
mission.
The officer acted Like a member
of the Gestapo or KGB towards his
staff, he said. One female reception
ist had to take time olf after the
incident.
The ASC was conducting a
witch-hunt into his business after
his work for a parliamentary com
mittee which led him to criticise the
□ MSERVE BANK: John Brad
ford (Lib, Qld) said the Reserve
Bank misrepresented the owner
ship of technology for printing
banknotes when it allowed Singa
pore to use CSIRO-developed
technology for its $50 note.
A dispute between the Reserve
Bank, the CSIRO and a private
company had lost valuable export
income for Australia, he said.
□ DEET: Ken Aldred (Lib, Vic)
said it was commendable that the
Department of Employment, Edu
cation and Training had decided to
establish a fraud-prevention unit in
each state.
But it did not instil confidence
as DEET had appointed the former
manager of its overseas student
section in Victoria to head the Vic
totian fraud-prevention unit when
allegations had been made about
his administration of the overseas
student program, Mr Aldred said.
□ PACIFIC HIGHWAY: Neville
Newell (Lab, NSW) said progress
had been made in using Common
wealth and state funding for up
grading the Pacific Highway.
But the 18-month-old funding
agreement had been breached in an
insincere way by the NSW when the
Transport Minister, Wal Murray,
put forward the idea of a tollway to
solve the region's transport prob
lems, instead of building the Ra
leigh deviation and the Brunswick
Heads bypass.
□ SUGAR: Ray Braithwaite (Nat,
Qld) said government charges
which amounted to 21 per cent of
business costs for the sugar indus
try, including fringe benefits tax,
superannuation guarantee charge
and substantial road-user charges,
had severely affected the industry.
The sugar industry needed tariff
protection because of the corrupted
world market. Even with protec
tion, Australia's sugar industry
had become the most efficient in
the world, he said.
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