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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 6 Hansard (1 September) . . Page.. 1651 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

I have no doubt that the consultants undertook their report in a competent and thorough manner, but they knew what they were writing for. They knew what the Government was looking for.

Ms Carnell: Did they pay any attention to the terms of reference?

MR CORBELL: They worked exactly to the same terms of reference, effectively, as were provided in the Northern Territory, and those terms of reference were to sell. Those terms of reference resulted in a recommendation to sell, and that is exactly what the Government did here. The Government put forward the same recommendations because they knew they would get the same answer. That is not an independent and rigorous analysis. That is not an assessment of all of the factors surrounding the future of ACTTAB.

The Government here did what the Government of the Northern Territory did. They knew what result they were going to get in the Northern Territory, and they knew they wanted the same result here; so they put down the same terms of reference and, surprise, surprise, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, they got the same result. That is the criticism by the Labor Party here in the ACT.

The Government is setting out on a predetermined course to sell a community-owned asset which is profitable, which is viable, which returns significant revenue to the Territory each year, and which employs a significant number of people, directly and indirectly, in the Territory each year. That is the criticism, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker; not any suggestion that may come from the government side of this place that this is an attack on the competence, the thoroughness or the ability of the consultants to undertake the report. It is simply the case that the Government used the same terms of reference to get the same answer they wanted, which was to sell ACTTAB.

Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, there are a range of issues in this report that I believe should be addressed, and there are a number of them that I think are of most concern. The first one is that this report says nothing about jobs, absolutely nothing. There is no mention in this report of the impact on jobs. There is no assessment whatsoever of what will happen to the jobs of people who are employed at ACTTAB if the corporation is sold. I believe that to be completely unacceptable.

Ms Carnell: But there is. Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, is it all right to - - -

MR CORBELL: It is completely unacceptable.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Hird): Is this a point of order, Chief Minister?

Ms Carnell: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, is it all right to actually lie in speeches? Because there it is. It is there in black and white.

MR TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, there is no point of order, Chief Minister.

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