Page 4962 - Week 17 - Tuesday, 11 December 1990
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corporation, ACT Electricity and Water, to be expanded from four to seven members. The expansion of the ACTEW board will facilitate the oversight of its transition to a Territory owned corporation on 1 July 1991. Members will be aware that the Government has already put into place an interim board for the Mitchell Health Services Centre.
That interim board is making good progress for the corporatisation of the Mitchell Health Services Centre on 1 July 1991. That is something which I think a lot of people in the Territory will welcome greatly. Each Territory owned corporation will have its charter spelt out in its memorandum and articles of association. Provided each corporation acts within their charter, they will compete on a level playing field with all the private sector, in that they will be required to pay all Territory and Commonwealth taxes and charges. However, most Commonwealth taxes will be paid to the Territory under arrangements currently being negotiated with the Commonwealth.
In view of the Territory's financial position, largely brought upon us by the Commonwealth Government, this Bill provides the opportunity for a significant improvement in the Territory's financial position by ensuring that the Territory owned corporations are structured to provide appropriate returns to their owners, namely, us and the other members of the ACT community. I urge that the members opposite support this Bill as an important long-term initiative in micro-economic reform for the Territory and something which has been long overdue.
MR BERRY (8.05): As has been indicated by the Leader of the Opposition, the Labor Opposition will be opposing this Bill. It has also been pointed out that the reason for opposition to the Bill has some relationship to the fact that there are certain matters which require acceptance by the wider community, and community organisations such as the Trades and Labour Council.
The fact of the matter is that the conservative Government members opposite would argue that these changes lend themselves to the privatisation thrust of a Liberal administration. In my view, to say that it does not avoids the facts. The last speaker, the Minister for Finance and Urban Services, seemed not to understand the full effect of what has been enacted by the Government's approach in relation to this Bill. It is true that change can come about and deliver more efficient services for the people - in this case, for the people of the Australian Capital Territory - but, if those changes are merely to put in place the first stage of some philosophical commitment to the privatisation of Territory owned corporations, then that has to be resisted. Some of the most important things which have to be protected in the pursuit of this so-called micro-economic reform relate to the terms and conditions of employment of workers involved in those outfits and, most importantly, of course, the continuation of community services currently provided by government enterprises.
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