Page 4402 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 8 December 1993
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It went on along similar lines. Here we have the major union involved in the ACTION bus network writing to the Minister for Industrial Relations and saying that the pace of micro-economic reform, especially at the enterprise bargaining level, is cumbersome at best and perhaps non-existent at worst. Once again, it is not just the Liberal Party that has been advocating micro-economic reform; it is not just the Industry Commission; it is not just reports commissioned by this Government. Unions involved within the industry are saying loudly and clearly to this Government, "Hey, listen, we want to talk about micro-economic reforms. Here we have about $6.5m worth of micro-economic reforms".
Mr Lamont: No, it is more than that.
MR DE DOMENICO: "It is more than that", Mr Lamont says. They are saying, "We have millions and millions of dollars worth of micro-economic reforms. Please, Industrial Relations Minister, will you make sure that your bureaucrats or whoever pull their fingers out so that we can go ahead?".
Mr Deputy Speaker, as I said, I will comment on one page of the Industry Commission's report, a report commissioned by the Federal Labor Government. It says: "Make public transport agencies statutory corporations". Mr Deputy Speaker, you, as well as every other member of this Assembly, will realise that just the other day Mr Connolly stood and told us how wonderful ACTEW is; that it supplied the cheapest electricity and water in Australia and it was run efficiently and well. And so it is. It is very well run and it is very efficient in comparison to similar authorities interstate and overseas. What sort of structure has ACTEW that gives it the ability to achieve these sorts of results that we boast about in the Assembly? I will tell you what the structure is. Surprise, surprise; it is a statutory authority.
Mr Connolly: But you want to change that to a corporatised body.
MR DE DOMENICO: I am glad that Mr Connolly interjected. You can predict Mr Connolly's interjections. If he reads other reports that have been commissioned from time to time, he will also know that ACTEW can be even more efficient than it is if it is corporatised.
Mr Lamont: If you sell them off. That is exactly what your agenda is. Sell them off.
MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Lamont's definition of corporatising is selling off. We all know of Mr Lamont's ignorance in these areas anyway. Every time he opens his mouth in this place he manifests that ignorance. We know that statutory authorities do run things very well. The Chief Minister seems to think that statutory authorities are good things as well because, notwithstanding the fact that there was some speculation that ACTEW would not be retained as a statutory authority, she changed her mind and the Government's mind. Well done, Chief Minister. She said in a statement two or three weeks ago that, in fact, ACTEW would remain a statutory authority. That is good. Mr Deputy Speaker, we suggest things like board members being appointed, and things that have been said time and time again.
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