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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 8 Hansard (29 October) . . Page.. 2431 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Mr Speaker, there are a number of reasons not to delay this matter as suggested in this motion. There would be, I think, a serious impact on the proposal as put forward by the Government if a sale were effectively delayed until this time next year. It is hard to be sure of what extent such a delay would have on the sale price of ACTEW, if that was the decision that was made ultimately by this Assembly, but it is likely, given what the consultants have already told the Assembly in no uncertain terms - that is, that the projected decline in the value of ACTEW is very real and quite imminent - that the sale could cost the Territory tens of millions of dollars, or even more. In fact, my advice, very informally from the Office of Financial Management, is that the value loss could be anywhere between 10 and 20 per cent of its present projected value. That is a lot of money - money that belongs to the taxpayers of this Territory whom we put at risk by a delay of that kind.

Mr Berry: Not even half of it.

MR HUMPHRIES: You know better, do you, Mr Berry? You have figures, have you, from some other source? The Australia Institute perhaps? Where are the figures?

Mr Stanhope: You have figures to table, have you?

MR HUMPHRIES: We already have a clear indication, Mr Speaker. I think there is one thing that we need to come back to in this debate. Mr Kaine said we are relying on - - -

Mr Berry: You are losing the plot.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, can I have some quiet? I have been having to talk over these people opposite.

MR SPEAKER: Order, please! If members wish to participate in this debate they had better get to their feet to do it. I am sick and tired of interjections. There is a constant stream. It is almost as if you are trying to drown out the speaker.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Kaine said in this debate that the Government expects the Assembly to take on faith that this is an important and necessary thing to do. With the greatest of respect to those who think there has not been a lot of work done by the Government already, the amount of money that has been spent on the study so far amounts to almost half a million dollars. Half a million dollars of taxpayers' money has been spent preparing the case which now has been placed before the community and before this Assembly in great detail.

Members have said that they want more information. Fair enough. The Government will do its best to satisfy requests for additional information in as full and in as rapid a way as we can, Mr Speaker, and that is my particular response to Mr Kaine's concerns. We will attempt to address those concerns as quickly and as comprehensively as we can. But, Mr Speaker, it is unfair to say that the homework has not already been done. It has been done. (Extension of time granted)

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