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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 808 ..

Mr Berry: You were going to listen to the arguments. I will give you some more.

MR RUGENDYKE: Isn't it wonderful? This is democracy. We have been debating the future of ACTEW in one form or another for most of the time that we have been in this Assembly. It is a unanimous view that ACTEW does not have long-term viability in its present structure. It is a given that ACTEW has to make adjustments to survive in the changing landscape of the energy industry.

With these arguments researched and understood the next step is clear and, quite frankly, staring this Assembly in the face. ACTEW needs certainty, ACTEW staff need certainty, the ACTEW board needs certainty and the community of the ACT needs certainty in its future. We have a responsibility to give ACTEW a clear path and a direction to follow. I know for a fact that the staff of ACTEW are crying out for certainty. They deserve to receive this from the Assembly. That is why I have devoted my energy to arriving at a decision one way or another today.

I see no need to delay this decision. The Assembly has to decide what action it wants to take with ACTEW sooner rather than later. I am prepared to make that call today. I believe that the right call is to allow ACTEW to pursue this joint venture. I see a great deal of merit and potential in ACTEW joining forces with AGL in this joint venture. I view this as an opportunity for ACTEW to step up to a new level in the energy industry.

Mr Berry: How much? How high?

MR SPEAKER: I warn you, Mr Berry.

MR RUGENDYKE: I would like to see us grab the opportunity with both hands. But if we delay, dither, or just sit on our hands, that opportunity is going to pass us by. Mr Speaker, during the failed ACTEW sell-off last year, I put on the record that I would be happy to explore mergers rather than privatisation. What followed were the moves to link ACTEW with Great Southern Energy. Some marriages are not meant to work and this was clearly one of them. For example, having two parliaments watching over the operation would have been a volatile mix.

But in this joint venture between ACTEW and AGL a range of aspects fit snugly together. To begin with, AGL is a highly respected Australian company that has a commitment to Canberra. AGL has been in this region for 20 years. It has spent upwards of $130m putting the gas network in our suburbs. AGL has pipes laid in just about every street in Canberra as the city's natural gas supplier. AGL is not likely to rip them up and take them elsewhere overnight. I believe AGL is here for the long haul.

AGL also has an excellent reputation in joint ventures. In private enterprise it formed a joint venture with Elgas, with the then Commonwealth Industrial Gases, 16 years ago. Elgas is now No. 1 in LPG, with 40 per cent of the market share on its books.

I was most interested in the mid-west energy joint venture with the government-owned Western Power Corporation in Western Australia. That joint venture built from scratch a 350-kilometre gas pipeline and power generation operations in the Windimurra region

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