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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 7 Hansard (20 June) . . Page.. 1992 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: I can tell you the answer to the question. There is nothing that the Government - - -

Ms McRae: Because you have done nothing.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, we have done nothing. We have done nothing to remove the policy that those people had in place. If we have done something, then let Ms McRae tell me what it is. Mr Speaker, Burmah is still there. Burmah still has its preferential arrangement, as far as placement in the Canberra market is concerned. We have not undone that. Members will recall that in 1994 the former ACT Government tried to release three further sites for the admission of independents. The first auction had to be abandoned because nobody came. Nobody turned up. Nobody was interested in bidding in the ACT marketplace.

Ms McRae: Yes, they did.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, they did not. You check your facts, Ms McRae. No-one turned up. There had to be a second auction. People were virtually dragged in and told, "Please, please, come and bid at our auction. We will give you these really cheap sites. Please come along". At that stage, only two of the three sites that were on offer were even bid for successfully to the threshold price. There were two sites bid for, one in Belconnen - - -

Mr Wood: You did not proceed with it. You undid it.

MR HUMPHRIES: No. Listen, Mr Wood. Be patient. There was one in Belconnen and one at Hume. Two sites were released. They were both to be offered to Gull Petroleum of Western Australia. Mr Speaker, the fact remains that, after several meetings with Gull Petroleum, the ACT Government remains very willing and open for Gull to take up the option of those sites. I have met on at least three occasions with the principals of Gull, as has the Chief Minister, and have said to them, "If you want to come in on the terms originally offered, be our guests". Mr Speaker, this Government has not reversed one iota of that policy. It remains the case, and I await the interest of those people in those sites. Why have they not taken up those sites? The reason, Mr Speaker, is this: The Canberra petrol market is very tight indeed. We are not seeing large amounts of profit being made by retailers in this marketplace. That is the fundamental point forgotten by those opposite. Those opposite, in their policy in respect of Burmah before, characterised local ACT retailers - small businesses, for the most part - as rapacious profiteers. But they were not. The profit margins of ACT retailers are very small indeed.

Ms Follett: Oh, poor Shell, poor Caltex!

MR HUMPHRIES: Look at the compassion of those opposite. I am not talking about Caltex, Shell or BP. I am talking about Bloggs, Smith and Jones and other people like that who actually run these sites as independent franchisees or as licensed operators of some other description. They are the people I am talking about. Those people were hit hard by your policy. We have said to the market generally, "If you want to have other independents, fine; come into the marketplace"; but, Mr Speaker, they have not come in, because the profit margins are very small indeed. That is why Gull is not here today.

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