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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3572 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

The COAG agreement is only the mid-point of the process. Implementation often takes several more years as the fine details are resolved and appropriate regulatory regimes are put in place. Take the case of electricity. This often involves extensive further studies and public consultation, as evidenced by the work of the pricing commissioner in relation to electricity charges. At no point does the Executive ignore the interests of the community or the Assembly. There have been numerous briefings and offers of briefings - often not taken up, I have to say - for members of the Assembly on the broad range of issues and legislation associated with COAG agreements. I note that, in the case of the competition policy legislation currently before the Assembly, Mr Moore and the Greens have received briefings on the issue. The Labor Party and Mr Osborne have not taken up the offer at this stage, although I understand that Mr Osborne's staff have been briefed. Mr Osborne's sudden interest is very welcome. To date, Mr Osborne has not said much in relation to key pieces of legislation related to competition policy and COAG agreements. He has not participated in the debate to date, but I am very pleased that he is doing so now.

What are we talking about with these reforms? They are not academic exercises or some conspiracy to harm residents of the ACT. The agreements and reforms have been pursued by ACT Labor and Liberal governments alike. Why? Because they bring benefits to the residents of Canberra. We are already seeing some of the benefits in terms of electricity prices. Over time more benefits will flow. The legislation currently before the Assembly arises largely from agreements that were signed by the Follett Government.

The development of a nationally coordinated approach to micro-economic reform has been on the political agenda since the Special Premiers Conference in October 1990. One of the most surprising and, might I say, admirable aspects of the process has been the apolitical manner in which this has been progressed, at least until now. Successive governments at Federal, State and Territory levels have put their political differences aside to achieve reforms that all have recognised are in the national interest.

This has historically been the case in the ACT, and I stress "historically". Although Mr Kaine, as Chief Minister, was involved in the initial round of reforms in October 1990, all the following meetings of Premiers and Chief Ministers at the Council of Australian Governments were attended by Rosemary Follett as Chief Minister. Rosemary Follett, on behalf of the ACT Labor Government, with Mr Berry as Deputy Chief Minister, signed off on the gas, water and electricity agreements. The Follett Government also signed off on all the national competition policy reforms bar the last one. That was signed off by me in April 1995, a couple of weeks after we got into government. It goes without saying that I adopted the same bipartisan approach to these reforms as other leaders. All of these reforms have involved extensive consultation processes and all members of the Assembly have had the opportunity to participate in these processes. This Government cannot be held responsible for the limited input of others. These documents - and there are buckets of them - have been on the table for years and they spell out the whole policy, the intricate nature of the policy, what is going to happen and when it is going to happen. Some of the timeframes have been extended.

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