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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4813 ..

Mrs Carnell: That is what I said in my speech.

MR WHITECROSS: I welcome that. If I misheard the Chief Minister during her speech I apologise, but that is what I heard her say. I wanted to make sure it was clear to members in this house when they come to vote that these requirements are in addition to the Corporations Law requirements. Mr Speaker, there are requirements under the Corporations Law, but they are requirements which relate to the interests of shareholders in companies. They are onerous requirements and they are important requirements, but they are requirements which relate to the interests of shareholders in companies.

As Mr Moore said in his remarks, and as I said when I presented these Bills last week, there are additional issues relating to Territory-owned corporations that are different from other corporations because they are publicly owned. The additional reporting requirements which I would envisage under this Act are reporting requirements which go to the public interest and to the right of members in this place and the community as a whole to know how Territory-owned corporations are serving the public interest. I think it is only right and proper that there be some requirements on Territory-owned corporations in addition to the requirements of the corporations law.

Mrs Carnell in her remarks made what could be regarded as a slightly disturbing reference to the fact that these additional requirements will impose additional costs on Territory-owned corporations. If in saying that Mrs Carnell is saying that the motivation for shifting government activities from government departments or statutory authorities to Territory-owned corporations was to reduce the cost of reporting requirements to the Assembly, I would think that would be a very worrying suggestion. I hope that that is not what the Chief Minister meant.

Mrs Carnell: It is just because they have to comply with both pieces of legislation.

MR WHITECROSS: Mr Speaker, if what the Chief Minister is saying is that being accountable to the Assembly costs money, that is a cost which we believe is an investment that is worth making.

Mrs Carnell also made the point that this would leave Territory-owned corporations at a competitive disadvantage with private businesses. It is certainly the case that the competition of government companies and instrumentalities with private companies and private firms is a complicated area. It is an area which is dealt with in some detail in competition policy and in other agreements between the States in relation to taxation arrangements, et cetera. It is a complicated area - there is no doubt about that - but it is not simply a case of saying we are going to treat Territory-owned corporations as if they were private companies. It is not that simple. There is a very large number of differences between Territory-owned corporations and private companies. Some of those differences work to the advantage of Territory-owned corporations, and some work to their disadvantage. One of the intentions of competition policy, Mr Speaker, is to ensure that those advantages and disadvantages are weighed up in looking at Territory-owned corporations. So I do not believe that the existence of difference on its own is an argument against going down this path.

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