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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 9 Hansard (7 September) . . Page.. 3003 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (Treasurer, Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Community Safety) (3.43): I present the following paper:

I move:

In presenting the government's response to the report, I would like to thank the committee for the work undertaken. The package is extensive and the government is very pleased with the thrust of the report and the committee's general support for the direction of the regulatory reforms. The committee also noted the overall support amongst utilities and community interest groups for the broad intentions of the government's package.

The committee made 14 recommendations and each is addressed in detail in the government's response. The government agrees with the majority, but not all, of the committee's recommendations. Without duplicating all that is in the government's response, I would like to address a number of recommendations.

Recommendation 3 of the report requested that the government ensure, through consultation with ACTEW and AGL, that the bills were not inconsistent with national arrangements. The government has already undertaken this consultation and will table a number of minor amendments to the bills. These amendments are primarily for avoidance of doubt and to remove the potential for any inconsistencies with national arrangements in the future. The amendments will be released prior to debate on the bills.

Areas where the government has agreed with the committee's recommendations include: that exemptions from licence conditions be disallowable by the Assembly; ensuring that the Essential Services Consumer Council includes a member with experience in assisting or working with people suffering financial hardship; reviewing the implementation of the regulatory package after 18 months; and the need to encourage utilities to establish consumer committees.

One area where the government has not agreed with the committee is on amending the bill to provide the public with the ability to appeal decisions of the ICRC. Neither the government nor utilities or community groups want unfettered public access to appeals as it may lead to repeated appeals and abuse of the process, with the potential to greatly increase regulatory costs.

The bill will instead be amended to increase the scope for public participation in the ICRC's decision-making process. That will address the concerns of the committee and should meet the majority of the needs expressed by community groups.

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