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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 1 Hansard (29 April) . . Page.. 163 ..

MR CORBELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Any decision to privatise will have significant ramifications for employees, particularly in light of the tendency for government business enterprises like Totalcare, ACTEW and ACTTAB to be privatised to reduce the number of staff employed by them. That is on the record, Mr Speaker. Privatisation leads to loss of jobs. We want to signal, here and now, that any decision to privatise has almost inevitably led to a loss of jobs. Remember, Mr Speaker, that we are not talking just about people who live here, but also about their families and the community in which these employees live.

Mr Speaker, the impact on the community is a key issue, which the ALP raised in question time yesterday. We asked the Chief Minister what assessment was going to be made about the flow-on effects of loss of employment - potentially, loss of dollars into the community. It was a question which, as we have seen all too often in this place, the Chief Minister flippantly and rudely ignored, because that is the way she is, Mr Speaker. She does not see these things as being of incredible significance.

Because any decision to sell a Territory-owned corporation will have a significant impact on the community, a requirement that the Assembly - the elected representatives of the people of the Territory - scrutinise and support or oppose a proposal to sell will mean that a government will no longer be able to respond flippantly to such concerns without having them tested on the floor of this place. I think that is a very important point. What we are saying is: If the Government has a strong case for privatisation, let it bring that to the floor of the Assembly and let that be tested on the floor of the Assembly. Let us not test it by media release, which is how the Chief Minister prefers to conduct government in this place; let us test it on the floor of this Assembly, because that is where the decision should be made.

Mr Speaker, another one of the significant benefits which are returned to the community through Territory-owned corporations is in relation to revenue. I want to outline some results from the annual reports of the three Territory-owned corporations in question from last financial year. Mr Speaker, ACTEW's profit for the last financial year was $50m after tax. It paid $23m in dividend and $18m in tax equivalents to the community. ACTTAB paid a dividend of $1.1m after also paying income tax equivalents of $1.3m and a licence fee of $3.8m. Its profit after tax was $1.7m. Totalcare Industries made a profit of $16.3m after tax. Its dividend to the Government was $195,000 and its tax equivalents payment was $308,000.

Mr Speaker, any decision to sell an asset, it has been demonstrated, results in around 50 per cent of the present value stream of forgone earnings lost. This is based on an analysis of a number of actual and proposed privatisations in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Other studies have shown that the community loses between 25 and 35 per cent of the real value of a publicly-owned corporation once it is privatised. These are facts, Mr Speaker. These are based on rigorous economic analysis of the consequences of privatisation. The significance of these figures underlines the importance of the Assembly scrutinising and approving any decision to sell, to ensure that the interests of the community are protected.

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