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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2521 ..

MR OSBORNE: I have a supplementary question. Thank you, Mr Humphries. The main thrust of the question was what research did you have. I am glad that in the last minute of the seven minutes that you spoke you spoke about that and you said there was nothing. My supplementary question is this: In recent newspaper articles the executive director of the ACT Motor Trades Association stated that the effect of supermarket chains in Great Britain entering the petrol retail market was a temporary drop in prices and that about 7,000 service stations across the country went out of business, but once the supermarkets had control over a local area the petrol price went back up to its previous level. Minister, what assurances can you give to the Assembly and to the people of Canberra that the expected price reductions resulting from the introduction of Woolworths Plus petrol are sustainable beyond the short-term fluctuations and this will not be another Burmah disaster?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I can give no such assurances, precisely because we are letting the market regulate the price and the supply of these goods to the community. If I were able to control that in some way, if I were able to dictate where people will sell and for how much and under what circumstances, then yes, I could offer guarantees; but we have all argued in this place for the market forces to be dominant. Perhaps the Greens have not argued for it. I might not tar the Greens with that brush.

Mr Moore: I have not argued that either.

MR HUMPHRIES: In respect of trading hours I think you did, Mr Moore; but let us put that argument to one side. The fact is that we have to take our chances. I think that the combination of Woolworths Plus, the BP independent deal, Gull and another, which it is rumoured will come along very soon, will produce lower prices and they will be on a much more sustainable basis than was the case with the arrival of Burmah Fuels, which was very much a flash in the pan. That is my prediction, but I do not guarantee it because I do not have the power to regulate the market. We have, to some extent, to trust that this infusion of new players into the marketplace will see a greater level of competition and hence lower prices.

MR WHITECROSS: Thank you, Mr Speaker, for your astuteness in spotting me leaping to my feet.

Mr Humphries: Do you have a question?

MR WHITECROSS: Yes, I do. Chief Minister, now that we have heard earlier in question time that you lied about the 1,000 Unisys jobs, I want to ask you about Bruce Stadium.

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