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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (9 March) . . Page.. 859 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

There are a number of aspects to this joint venture proposal that I like. There appears to be potential for growth of the business, but in the drive for increased efficiencies these days growth does not necessarily translate into more jobs - in fact, all too often just the opposite. Today's front-page headline in the Canberra Times announcing a further 16,000 lost jobs in Telstra bears out that sentiment.

Much has been made of the new jobs that will come, if the joint venture goes ahead, from building and operating a gas-fired power station and establishing a local call centre. I think I speak for all members when I say that new jobs are good for the city, Mr Speaker. But, for me, they need to be considered within context. There are some industries in Canberra I would be happy to see pack up and leave town overnight, taking their jobs with them, so just creating any new jobs does not necessarily satisfy me.

The joint venture could see around 150 new jobs in Canberra, but these come in the context of gaining an interest in a gas distribution business and in becoming a electricity provider, an aspect of the industry we have historically been at pains to avoid. While both could lessen the risk to ACTEW as a business, especially the electricity retail side of the business, both also bring with them new risks. Unfortunately, these new risks have largely not been quantified and have been largely glossed over.

Until 1988, the distribution of electricity and the provision of water and sewerage in Canberra were provided by separate entities - electricity by a Commonwealth statutory authority and water and sewerage by the NCDC. At the time of self-government, these entities were merged into the old ACTEW - for which Mr Quinlan takes much of the credit - which subsequently, in 1995, became ACTEW Corporation.

Through each change in corporate structure, employees of ACTEW were forced to confront new challenges. Their working environment has changed a great deal as the years have gone by. Accountability structures and performance measures changed constantly as the business repeatedly went through the throes of efficiency-based adjustment. At the time of corporatisation in 1995, ACTEW had around 1,400 employees. That number has since been reduced to 900. Some have opted for voluntary redundancies, while others have simply not replaced when they have left.

I can well understand the reasons why many of ACTEW's current employees are nervous about this joint venture proposal. With each change in structure of the business, there has been a reduction in the number of jobs, and expectations of them in the workplace have constantly changed. They fear, not unnaturally, that becoming joined to a large private sector company will spark off a new round of job losses and that their wages and conditions will come under pressure.

It has been pleasing to see ACTEW's recent response in offering their workers a series of job guarantees should the joint venture go ahead. I do not know that the unions concerned will ever be completely happy with the joint venture between ACTEW and AGL, but I appreciate their great concern of the unknown and their overwhelming caution.

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