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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 5 Hansard (10 May) . . Page.. 1354 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

expected that there would be further action in committees or probably even on the floor of this Assembly. So we knew that whatever was not provided was going to be subject to motions and other political steps in a place like this.

But we did not release the information because of what we believed were good reasons to do with the preservation and protection of the reputation of the ACT and its agencies as reasonable players to do business with. We believed that that reputation deserved to be honoured and protected. We decided that information could not be released, given the position being taken by the company, the International Touring Co, with whom we were dealing in this exercise.

Mr Speaker, I pose the same question that has been posed by the Chief Minister: where is the public interest in disclosing the information that is being sought in this motion? What is being sought in this motion is an insurance policy. Let us be clear about this. The ACT is contracting with ITC, the International Touring Co, for the provision of the services of the artists who make up the Ultimate Rock Symphony. We say to ITC, "You must make sure these artists' services are provided. If they are not provided, if they pull out at the last minute after we have filled the stadium full of people to listen to them, it is your responsibility to compensate us for that lack of performance, for that loss of profit if you like."

ITC protects its capacity to do that for the ACT in the event of something going wrong by taking out the insurance policy, as it is required to do. The policy names the ACT as a beneficiary of the policy, so that if ITC went under for some reason the ACT would still be able to gain a benefit from that particular insurance policy. That is why we have got an insurance policy there but we are not a party in that sense to the insurance policy. We are a beneficiary of it. If I get a builder to build my house, he is obliged to take out an insurance policy to protect his performance.

Ms Carnell: Your name is in it.

MR HUMPHRIES: And my name is actually in his insurance policy, so if he disappears I can still go back and get some benefit from that policy. Insurance policies, particularly policies related to one-off type activities such as major rock groups touring Australia, are very commercially sensitive documents. The small number of entrepreneurial companies that provide for this kind of touring in Australia jealously guard these documents. These companies have got only a small number of competitors and if those competitors are able to see, from the insurance arrangements that are made, the details of what they are doing such as how much they are paying their client artists, all of a sudden they will be in a competitively disadvantaged position.

I ask members to consider what will happen if ultimately documents and information of the kind sought in this motion are tabled in this place or published, to the detriment of the International Touring Co. What will that say to other people who may wish to deal with the ACT in the future? What will that say about the ACT as a partner in these sorts of ventures?

What is the position if you want to deal with agencies of the Queensland government, the New South Wales government, the Victorian government, or any other government in Australia? Oppositions in those parliaments which come forward and say, "We want to

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