Page 3304 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 September 1994
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That was a very unusual approach to competition, Mr Lamont. You are totally wrong. That is not competition. The Chief Minister herself stated - - -
Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Madam Speaker: Not only is Mr Lamont interjecting noisily but he is also speaking from a place in the chamber which is not his seat.
Mr Lamont: All right. You have only one industry of chemists, but you have competition.
MADAM SPEAKER: I am not sure whether to thank you or not, Mr Kaine.
MRS CARNELL: I would be very interested to give Mr Lamont a chance to discuss the various companies that operate in the area, but I will not at this stage.
Mr Lamont: Chemists?
MRS CARNELL: Yes.
Mr Lamont: But you all get paid out when you do not have the ability to continue your business.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mrs Carnell, just ignore it.
MRS CARNELL: The Chief Minister herself stated only last month that the ACTION bus network is becoming more competitive. I ask: With whom, Chief Minister? Obviously, it is with itself. The Chief Minister and her Ministers have been confused by the correct definition of "competition". It means "the striving of two or more for the same object". Competition means that you have to have two or more people competing, Mr Lamont. The lack of competition in many of our publicly owned facilities is very evident by their unsatisfactory performance. Consider the monopolistic ACTION bus system. As of 30 June 1993, ACTION employed 1,003 staff and had 425 buses. The Industry Commission, which at the request of the current Labor Government delivered its report on urban transport earlier this year, looked at many bus operators around Australia and in other countries, including ACTION. It found that ACTION recovered only 22 per cent of its operating costs commercially, whereas the New South Wales State Transit Authority recovered 48 per cent. That is more than double. The Travers Morgan benchmarking study, released in October last year, compared several private and public bus operators in Australia, including ACTION. Unfortunately, ACTION's unit costs were substantially higher in almost all areas than those of any of the other operators.
This Government has created a problem and refuses to reform the situation. To add insult to injury, last year the people of the ACT subsidised ACTION by approximately $66m - they are the budget figures - or $660 per household, and it will be about $50m this year. Is $50m okay? How many hospital beds would $50m pay for, Mr Connolly? How many child-care places, how many training programs or how many VITABs would it pay for?
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