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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 806 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

benefit to the community as a whole. My judgment was made not on ideological grounds but on how we would deliver the most benefit to the community as a whole.

That does not mean the most benefit just in terms of your electricity bill; it does not mean just in terms of how you perceive an ideological view or whether we should make sure that things stay in control of ownership; it was not just what would be in the best interest of the unions - it was what was in the best interest of the community as a whole. It included broad budget issues such as the superannuation liability that we carry and a range of other issues.

One of the most important things is the issue of jobs. We have a precise situation. If we do nothing - if we take the approach of those opposite; if we bury our heads in the sand - then there will be a loss of jobs. If we take the broader picture - if we support giving ACTEW the room to move in this joint venture - then not only can we prevent the loss of jobs that we have been warned about but also we can expect to see the gaining of jobs.

We can see an increase in jobs because of the call centre that will come to Canberra. Call centres are a very rapidly growing industry and a very rapidly growing form of jobs. We can improve on our 5.3 per cent record. We can improve on the unemployment record being the lowest it has been in Canberra in 10 years - basically since self-government. We can improve on that if we keep working at it. But it does take working at it. It is not just the call centre; there is also the possibility of a gas-fired power station. This could also mean jobs and it would be an advantage environmentally.

There are a series of advantages here. Or you can take the view that has been taken by those opposite, the same view that was taken by Poland in 1939 when they had the best equipped calvary, the bravest soldiers in the world. We are all very well aware of what happened in that situation. The rules of the market there had changed and Poland had not recognised it.

Under a Federal Labor government and an ACT Labor government, which I supported - I feel proud that I supported it at that time - there was an agreement for a national reform of the electricity market, the energy market. That changed the rules fundamentally.

One of my motivations for introducing the interstate agreements legislation was to do with the fact that that was made basically without consultation with the Assembly at a time when we had a much more closed government than the one we have at the moment.

What we hear from those opposite and from the Greens are half-baked solutions. If you do not like what we are doing, at least come up with a realistic alternative. There have been no realistic alternatives. You talk about the retail arm of ACTEW. I think that is a genuine attempt to say that there was an alternative. That alternative will not stop the shedding of jobs - turn it around - and improve not only the number of jobs in Canberra but also opportunities. This system is largely about jobs. It is also about the ACT economy. The two are inextricably linked.

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