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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (8 March) . . Page.. 679 ..

MR QUINLAN: Do you know the technology out at Lower Molonglo? Do you know the improvements in the technology over the years? Why is there now a government vote of no confidence in the technical and managerial competence of the people that serve ACTEW today?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, there is no vote of no confidence in the people who serve ACTEW today. There is on the other hand a willingness to listen to the people in ACTEW who serve the community today when those people come to the ACT Government and say, "We think you need to give us a better position to be able to deal with the challenge of the future". We have not done this, Mr Speaker, as I pointed out yesterday in the debate, because the Government has any great political mileage to be made from the fact that it is prepared to sign a deal with the Australian Gas Light Corporation. I ask people to step back for one moment and to consider what is in this for this Government. Anything that goes wrong with this partnership, if it comes about, will be blamed on us, not on ACTEW, not on AGL, on us. We will bear the blame for that, Mr Speaker.

Mr Quinlan: I reckon about 18 months of launches, openings, re-packages.

MR HUMPHRIES: Listen, Mr Quinlan, for a minute, and you have a think about this. You asked what is in it for the Government and you see that there is actually very little. As I said yesterday, some money may be generated for the superannuation account, but we are not going to win the next ACT election by going out and saying, "Hey, your superannuation is being taken care of by the Government".

Mr Berry: I hate to keep raising this. I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. This Minister refuses to conform with the standing orders and you refuse to call him to book. The standing orders are clear. Standing order 118 (a) says that answers shall be concise and confined to the subject matter. The subject matter of the supplementary question was why is there now a government vote of no confidence in technical and managerial competence and so on? Why does he not just address that or sit down?

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order, Mr Berry.

Mr Berry: Well, the new regime is dead then, is it, Mr Speaker? Fair enough.

MR SPEAKER: First of all, the Treasurer has been speaking to the supplementary question. He has been explaining. As for the second point, in terms of being concise, the Minister has been speaking for two minutes. Please continue.

Mr Berry: What about the subject matter?

MR SPEAKER: The subject matter is being canvassed at the moment. If you would listen instead of - - -

Mr Berry: The subject matter was: Why is there now a government vote of no confidence in technical and managerial competence? Why will he not address that?

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