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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 11 Hansard (8 December) . . Page.. 3200 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

I do not dispute that we have that responsibility. But I argue that we have another responsibility which is equally important, that is, a responsibility to protect the social interests of the people of the Australian Capital Territory, the environmental interests of the people of the Australian Capital Territory, and a notion which is somewhat outdated these days called the public good. I want to protect that, too. We must weigh up all of these factors in our decisions.

Mr Speaker, earlier today I was very pleased to present a petition in this place on behalf of 10,600 residents of the Territory opposed to the sale of ACTEW. When I presented it, Mr Moore interjected across the chamber that they had signed it only because they had been misled. What a patronising comment! It was a patronising comment from a government which is arrogant and out of touch, because what those 10,600 petitioners were saying, if they were not saying anything else, was: "We do not accept an argument about privatisation just because it is about managing the Territory's economy effectively and responsibly. We want a government that listens to the concerns of people, not just the bottom line. We want a government that will understand that there are social costs associated with privatisation which we are very concerned about. We want a government that understands that there are environmental costs associated with privatisation which the Government does not seem to care about".

That is why those people signed that petition. It is intuitive, contrary to what Mr Humphries argues, that if the Government wants to sell something for an amount of money someone is not going to buy it unless it is a good proposition. People in the community understand that, too. I will return to that later in the debate.

Mr Speaker, let us look at the ACTEW story. Let us look at how the Government has presented its argument on ACTEW over the past 12 to 18 months. I go back to a letter that the Chief Minister sent to Mr Jeremy Pyner, who is the secretary of the ACT Trades and Labour Council, on 25 May 1995. I would like to quote from that letter. The Chief Minister wrote to Mr Pyner and said:

I would like to state clearly, once again, that we have no intention of selling ACTEW. It is owned by the people of Canberra, and will remain so.

That is what Kate Carnell said on 25 May 1995. The Government may argue, "We did not rule it out during the election campaign. Therefore, we are relieved of any comment or commitment we gave to the TLC on 25 May in 1995". But let me give you another quote from the Chief Minister. On 20 July 1998, this year, she said:

I am not aware of any plans to sell ACTEW.

That is what the Chief Minister said, and she said it to an Estimates Committee hearing on 20 July this year.

Mr Speaker, time and again we have heard in this place and in the community: "It is not on our agenda. We have no plans to sell ACTEW". Is it any wonder that 10,600 residents say that they want to sign a petition opposing the sale? They know, and every member in this place knows, that it was not an issue that the Government went

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