Haynes: Why the $100 rush?

Opposition Senator Anita Haynes asked why Government has such undue haste to bring a bill to introduce a new $100 banknote.

“The announcement was made on Thursday at post-Cabinet, it was in the House of Representatives on Friday and then heads to the Senate on Saturday,” she mused. She said for such a bill, the devil is always in the details.

“I can’t see how any serious country can have its Cabinet sit on a Thursday and say Parliament must get through all of this by Saturday.

“To prepare for the bill, we must speak to people. Who is ready for this?” Again, she questioned Government’s haste, noting the House was on Friday due to debate if after several hours of debate on the Finance Bill 2019.

“They want the House to debate this (Central Bank) bill in the dead of night. They want the Senate to debate it on a Saturday just before Christmas. It warrants greater debate than that.”

National Security Minister Stuart Young early in the House sitting on Friday, proposed the bill be debated later in the sitting, on the heels of his announcement of a new banknote at Thursday’s post-Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s.

Scrutiony of the Parliament website showed the bill will also change the definition of a “large transaction” under the Proceeds of Crime Act from a current value of $90,000 to whatever sum is set by order by the relevant minister.

The bill said the minister by order can also direct the Central Bank to cancel any note issued by it by giving just 14 days notice, in place of the existing three month requirement. The bill under debate is the Miscellaneous Provisions (Proceeds of Crime and Central Bank) Bill 2019. Young has claimed it can be passed with just a simple majority, that is, without Opposition support.