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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2600 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

I believe that the outcomes were as positive this year as they were in the year that we hosted it. The conferences of the public works and environment committees together are particularly useful for us, as our committee covers both of those areas. Certainly, this assists our understanding of the important interrelationship between ensuring that capital works get done and protecting the environment.

Of particular interest this year was a discussion paper circulated by the Queensland Public Works Committee called "The Changing of the Guard: Private Sector Ownership of Public Infrastructure". It really enhanced our understanding of some of the issues. We refer to it throughout this report. Anybody who is interested in the notion of private sector ownership of public infrastructure would do well to read this report and to get a copy of that discussion paper as well.

The discussion paper draws attention to three different methods of dealing with it - the build, transfer and operate method, where the private sector builds the infrastructure and then transfers the ownership to the public sector, which operates it; the build, own, operate and transfer method, with the private sector building, operating and then transferring to the public sector after some time; and the build, own and operate method, under which the public sector handles the whole thing. The paper deals with the advantages and disadvantages of each of those methods.

The issues arising from the conference include a proper discussion of an increasing trend by governments to use the private sector. Examples in New South Wales include the Sydney Harbour tunnel, Port Macquarie Hospital and a whole series of others. Examples in South Australia are the bridge at Berri, the Flinders Medical Centre and a hospital at Port Augusta. I think that was particularly useful for us. A series of issues are mentioned in the report. Rather than take too long today when we have a busy schedule, I simply draw to members' attention the fact that the Brisbane City Council is developing its first State of the Environment report, which, to quote the report, can be "an incredibly powerful tool if used correctly in establishing the dynamics between pressure, state and response to our environment". The intention is to "bring together at the same stage the environmental aspects, the economic aspects and the social aspects" somewhere down the track. I hope that in the ACT we can do that even more effectively.

I think that it was a major advantage for members of the committee to attend this conference. I think that their knowledge and understanding will be enhanced and we will be able to deal more appropriately with issues that come before us in these two areas. For anybody who is interested, when you look at page 6 of the report you can see a photo of some of the members of the committee with a Labor member from Wollongong who was at the conference. I think it was a very worthwhile exercise and I think it has enhanced our understanding. I hope that we can, in turn, pass on some of that understanding through this report.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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