Canberra Liberals call to refer ChooseCBR scheme to auditor-general

Questions continue to surround the controversial scheme, while the ACT government refuses to release the names of the businesses which profited.

Opposition business spokeswoman Leanne Castley will put forward the motion to the territory's parliament on Tuesday, that will argue the scheme has been plagued with problems and "serious questions about its integrity".

Ms Castley said key questions needed to be answered, which included which businesses benefited and by how much.

The ACT government has repeatedly said the names of the businesses could not be released due to privacy reasons.

But when asked by The Canberra Times what privacy legislation prevented this release a government spokeswoman said the names of businesses were "commercial in confidence".

"The ACT government is treating this information as commercial in confidence until we have further advice on the release of business-level data," the spokeswoman said.

The $2 million scheme provided ACT government subsidised discounts of up to 50 per cent for people to use at participating Canberra businesses.

The scheme, which followed a December trial, started on June 9, however, it was plagued with technical difficulties due to demand that caused the site to crash. The ACT government was then forced to pull the site for a week to fix those issues.

Close to $390,000 was spent before the site was pulled on June 10. The scheme returned last Friday to high levels of demand, which saw remaining $1.6 million spent within 24 hours.

But Ms Castley said questions remained about the scheme's integrity following reports of misuse and that an independent audit would help to answer these.

"Just 24 hours after the scheme was resurrected last Friday the funds dried up, with reports that vouchers were redeemed late into the night," she said.

"Canberrans must have confidence the government got it right and ChooseCBR supported struggling businesses that genuinely needed help.

"The Canberra Liberals support measures that assist our 30,000 small businesses which employ one in four Canberrans, but the minister must be upfront with the community about how the scheme operated."

In a written statement, ACT Business Minister Tara Cheyne provided information about the business types where redemptions had taken place.

She said the highest portion of vouchers (37.1 per cent) were redeemed at food retailers, this was followed by cafes and restaurants (25.9 per cent) and recreational stores (7.6 per cent).

Pharmacies and cosmetic stores made up 6.2 per cent of all redemptions.

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Ms Cheyne said that 797 businesses redeemed at least one voucher. She said 133 businesses redeemed more than 100 vouchers and only 19 businesses redeemed more than 500 vouchers.

She said the business that had the most redemptions was in Gungahlin, where 3.3 per cent of all vouchers were claimed.

"The ChooseCBR program was established to stimulate economic activity and support local businesses following a difficult period in 2020," Ms Cheyne said.

"Canberrans have wholeheartedly embraced the program and supported local businesses and local jobs."

Ms Cheyne also flagged the government would do a review of the program.

"The government will conduct an evaluation of the program, which will include an independent and comprehensive review of the program design and implementation," she said.

"Through this process, the government will analyse the spread of activity across businesses and consumers. The findings from this process will be publicly released."

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