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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 5 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 1479 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

In considering these matters the Government weighed a number of options. One option clearly met these criteria and had the advantage of being in existence, under legislation and fulfilling a closely related function. The Government is persuaded therefore that, subject to the Assembly's endorsement, the best model for an independent council is the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission established under the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission Act 1997. The Government acknowledges the role of Mr Paul Osborne in moving the amendments that established the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission. Enhancing the role of the commission will entail some modifications to provide for a more flexible range of activities. Briefly these would include amending the IPARC legislation to permit a wider source of references, including self-referencing powers, to operate in a more flexible way and to undertake a broader spectrum of responsibilities; transferring some regulatory functions within the Chief Minister's Department to the commission to clarify the separation of regulatory and service and policy functions; providing a small, high-level secretariat to manage the regulatory program and to promote an understanding of the regulator's role; and transferring the competitive neutrality complaints function to the regulator to effectively separate it from the policy function in my department. These issues aside, the commission is able to assume a broader regulatory role under its existing legislation.

With the Assembly's support, I would propose to bring forward legislative amendments to formally recognise the broader role later this year or early in 1999. Naturally, these changes will come at a cost. Some of the increased cost will be met from the existing budget of the Office of Financial Management. Some staff will also possibly transfer from the department to the commission. Other costs will be borne from the Treasurer's Advance in 1998-99 and from appropriation in future years.

The Government has agreed that the new organisation should be clearly differentiated from the existing commission to reflect the broadened scope of the regulatory regime being put in place, but retain visible links between the old body and the new.

To that end, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission will be known as the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, the ICRC. The commission will retain and strengthen its links with national regulatory bodies, such as the National Competition Council and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The Government proposes that a single part-time commissioner remain at the helm of the new Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, but with the support of a permanent secretariat and with the capacity to contract external expertise as required.

These changes will also reflect the development in the States of permanent regulatory authorities with the power to speak fearlessly on issues and to act independently in the community's interest. In New South Wales, for example, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, IPART, under a single part-time commissioner, has taken on a number of quite sensitive legislation reviews, including a review of the taxi and hire car industry. As a consequence of these proposed changes, the existing Competition Policy Forum would cease to operate. In addition, competitive neutrality complaints would be handled by the new ICRC. I publicly acknowledge the contribution of the members of the Competition Policy Forum who have given their services voluntarily over the past year-and-a-half.

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