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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 7 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 2158 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Mr Speaker, the sale of Ecowise today has been justified by the Government in a range of ways. The Government has argued that the sale of Ecowise is being proposed on the grounds of the sale not impacting adversely on staff, of its not impacting on the interests of the ACTEW Corporation, of its not impacting on the interests of the community and of its not being part of ACTEW's core business. Mr Speaker, those are all grounds Labor will refute today.

We will refute them because the reality is that the Government wants to sell Ecowise for a quick buck. It is not interested in the long haul. It is not interested in building and maintaining the investment that the Canberra community has made in assets like Ecowise for decades. It is not interested in safeguarding the future interests of the Canberra community, who will need every possible revenue source to continue to provide the services, the schools, the roads and the hospitals that our community and our city need. It is interested only in the quick buck. The Government's attitude is: Damn the future; take the money and run. It is not an attitude which Labor is prepared to support, and nor should this Assembly.

In fact, Mr Speaker, it is only a result of the amendments to the Territory Owned Corporations Act which I proposed on behalf of the Labor Party in this place earlier this year and which the Assembly supported that has allowed us to make this decision here today. That is important, Mr Speaker, because this is an asset owned by all of us, and it should be the responsibility of those people elected by the people of Canberra to represent their views to make the decision on whether that asset remains in our hands.

Mr Speaker, only yesterday this Assembly was presented with the annual report of Ecowise Services. This report makes it clear that the prospects for Ecowise are bright in the areas where it competes. The general manager, Mr John Wells, indicates in his report that in the mechanical services division of Ecowise, which is mainly airconditioning, the growth in market share for Ecowise Services will go from one per cent to 10 per cent by the year 2000. The market share for Ecowise Services will grow in this important area. He goes on to say that, in the energy and communications division, Ecowise has already secured contracts with the Department of Defence for high-security communications links that will open the doors for future communications networking business. Indeed, Mr Speaker, Mr Wells says:

We have in-house capability that will guarantee Ecowise Services will be a significant player in this market within 18 months.

That sounds to me like a business that is ready to grow and ready to deliver on the investment Canberrans have made in it.

Mr Speaker, the report has some other interesting facts in it. Overall, Ecowise Services' revenues for the 1997-98 financial year have grown by 22 per cent, with cash flows positive for all of the year and cash at bank always somewhere between $0.5m and $1m. Mr Speaker, these are not my facts and these are not my figures; these are the Government's own figures. These are Ecowise's own figures from Ecowise's annual report, presented only yesterday. Mr Speaker, I ask this Assembly: Is this the sort of

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