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The Greens want a select committee because we believe that that is the best chance of making ACTEW the best possible organisation in the shortest possible time. We are not driven by ideology or by a desire to conform to either flat earth economics or red earth socialism. We want to find out what is best for ACTEW and what is best for the people of Canberra. We want experts in solar industries and renewable energy technologies to have a say. We want experts for and against Hilmer to have their say, and we want the community to have a say. We want to do it quickly because we recognise the need to resolve this issue. The community owns ACTEW, not the shareholders and not the members of this Assembly. Of all the groups we contacted about corporatisation in the past few weeks, very few knew what to expect, and certainly no-one has had the opportunity to have any input into the future of ACTEW.

MR DE DOMENICO (Minister for Urban Services) (3.36): Mr Speaker, I do not propose to go into the corporatisation of ACTEW debate because I think we will be doing that later on this day. Let me dispel some of the concerns - I use the word wisely and nicely - that Ms Horodny has. I think the major complaint that I noticed - it has been happening for weeks now, I might say - was that there has been inadequate consultation and discussion with the Legislative Assembly members in respect to ACTEW's corporatisation.

Ms McRae: It is true.

MR DE DOMENICO: Ms McRae says, “It is true”. There has been extensive consultation with all members of the ACT Legislative Assembly, by both officers of ACTEW and Government MLAs and their staff. Consultation by ACTEW officers, in particular ACTEW’s chief executive, Dr Michael Sargent, with non-government MLAs on this matter has been as follows: On 24 and 28 April ACTEW offered briefings to all Legislative Assembly MLAs on a range of ACTEW matters, including corporatisation. All MLAs were invited. Unfortunately, only some attended. On 1 May ACTEW offered and provided a briefing to the Green MLAs on a range of ACTEW matters, including corporatisation. On 18 May there were meetings with Michael Moore and Kerrie Tucker. On 22 May there were meetings with Mr Osborne. On 24 May there was another meeting with Mr Moore. On 25 May there was another meeting with Mr Osborne. On 26 May there was a meeting with Mr Whitecross. On 2 June there was a meeting with the Greens. On 7 June there was a meeting with Mr Moore. On 8 June there was a meeting with Mr Whitecross. In addition, information packages, as requested, have been provided to Mr Osborne, Mr Moore and the ACT Greens. The ACT Greens and others might not have liked what they got in the packages, they might not have agreed with what they got in the packages, and that is their prerogative; but those packages, as promised, were provided.

Let us talk about whether there should be more community consultation. Another one of Ms Horodny's allegations was that there was not enough community consultation. The community has been consulted widely, Ms Horodny - very widely, in fact. Firstly, corporatisation is not a new initiative. We have built on the work undertaken in 1991, before my time in here and before your time in here, when ACTEW was within weeks of being corporatised. In that process the community was widely consulted and the benefits and advantages widely discussed. In fact, the legislation under which

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