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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 1 Hansard (15 February) . . Page.. 31 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

I also note, Mr Speaker, that one of the conditions of the enabling legislation which will be tabled on Thursday will be that the partnership will not be able to dispose of a main undertaking without Assembly approval. The partnership will operate under ACT law, which can be amended by the Assembly at any time, of course. ACTEW and its wholly owned subsidiaries will continue to be subject to the full range of controls applicable under the TOC Act and all other existing legislation - for example, FOI, AD(JR), Ombudsman, et cetera. Those controls, of course, will not apply to the same degree to AGL, it not being a government body, but the ACTEW involvement still will be subject to all those controls. The partnership will continue to have its prices regulated by IPARC for water, sewerage, gas and electricity. The proposed Utilities Bill, which is to be tabled on Thursday as well, will apply to the partnership in precisely the same way as it applies to ACTEW - that is, gas will be included as one of the utilities which are to be covered by that legislation - and the special enabling legislation will contain very substantial limitations and controls to protect the public interest.

MR QUINLAN: I have a supplementary question. I gather from that that what you said on Friday was not correct. As a supplementary question, we appear to have embraced the deal with AGL to a great extent, even during the negotiating process, which, to me, is - - -

Ms Carnell: That is because you told us to go and find a strategic partner, Mr Quinlan, so we did.

MR QUINLAN: I did not tell you to grab them around the legs and bloody hug them to death and then ruin your bargaining position, did I? Given that you have heralded the deal as being a good deal while you are supposed to be negotiating, have you left the door open at all for a deal that might involve a strategic partnership on the retail part of ACTEW which was open to risk and which I did recommend that you do something about? Have you left the door sufficiently open for a deal where we can, in fact, enter a strategic relationship in relation to electricity retail without sacrificing 50 per cent or any per cent ownership of public assets?

Ms Carnell: You told us to sell the electricity retailing.

Mr QUINLAN: Electricity retail. That is fine.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I think the answer I gave earlier today in question time made it quite clear that we are not sacrificing ownership of the assets. I will repeat the words I have used to the Assembly already. ACTEW will contract with the partnership to operate and maintain the water and sewerage assets, and this contract will specify service delivery and health and environmental standards. ACTEW will continue to own the water and sewerage assets and, as now, will not be able to dispose of them without Assembly resolution. The electricity assets will be transferred to the partnership, but if the partnership is ever dissolved the electricity business will revert to ACTEW in accordance with preagreed conditions.

Mr Quinlan: Is any money going to change hands?

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