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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3580 ..

MR SPEAKER: Repetition is out of order.

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, it will be raised in appropriate circumstances. It is an excellent thing that Mr Osborne has raised this issue today. It is part of the continued scrutiny by the crossbenchers of what is going on in this Assembly. It is the crossbenchers, of course, that have continued to make move after move that not only seeks cooperation in this Assembly but also seeks to make sure that there is adequate scrutiny, and we will continue that process.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Kaine, you have seven minutes.

MR KAINE (Minister for Urban Services) (5.36): Mr Speaker, listening to the debate so far, one would almost assume that COAG agreements appear like - - -

Mr Berry: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: During Mr Moore's contribution to the debate, he clearly impugned the honesty of a former member, and I would ask him to withdraw it.

MR SPEAKER: Did you do that, Mr Moore?

Mr Moore: Mr Speaker, I believe that I did not; but, just to clear the record, if in some way I made the imputation that Ms Follett was dishonest, I certainly withdraw it. I do not believe Ms Follett to be a dishonest person.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you.

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, listening to the debate so far, one would almost assume that COAG agreements are like bolts of lightning that suddenly appear from the sky with no warning - nothing. Of course, it could not be further from the truth to assert that. They are, in fact, often the result of months, if not years, of research and analysis, and negotiations on a government-to-government basis at the officials level and at the political level; and often a great deal of public consultation goes on as well, even before the COAG agreement is reached. So, to suggest that there is no knowledge, nobody is informed, nobody knows what is going on, I think, is a gross distortion of the truth.

There also seems to be some assumption that these things produce no benefit. I will confine my remarks specifically to electricity, which is something that I know a little bit about. I think that it is positive and that there have been many benefits already from the economic and other reforms that have taken place in the electricity supply industry, particularly so far as the ACT is concerned. The wholesale price today is far below what it was under the former monopoly tariffs. The ACT consumers have benefited enormously. That has come purely from the benefits of competition. Perhaps the best example is transmission charges. For years, ACTEW and its predecessors, although unhappy about the charges, simply had to pay them. There was no other way in which they could deal with it. But now we do have a significant say, and the costs have been significantly reduced.

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