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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (27 November) . . Page.. 4798 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

can be rightly provided and equally or better provided by the private sector, the attempt to make Totalcare an entity that competed in the real world is sadly coming to a close.

I alert members to page 13 of Totalcare's statement of corporate intent for 1 July 2003 to 30 June 2006 and ask them to consider what the Assembly is actually doing today. The assumptions that underlie this document include the assumption that the current operations remain unchanged until the transfer. Minister, what will change when the transfer has been completed? It says that the property management team will transfer on 1 December 2003 and the roads, facilities management, sterilising and linen teams will transfer on 1 March 2004, the fleet team will transfer on 1 April 2004 and the current corporate arrangements will remain in place until 30 June 2004.

The interesting question is the next line, which says that all assets and liabilities will be transferred at a net book value, that is, no profit or loss on the transfer. If we go to page 14 we see that liabilities, both non-current and current, add up to about $21 million. Perhaps the minister could explain what those liabilities are and how they might affect the position of the territory when they come back onto the territory's books.

The document goes on to say-this is the line that I think we need to be concerned about-that no cost of transfer has been estimated. We do not know that; the government has not done its work. What will be the cost to the taxpayers to carry out this transfer? We have the guarantee that the government will endeavour not to lose any jobs, but we do not know that for real and we do not know what it will be costing us. I think that the government should be able to tell us at this stage what will be the cost of the transfer.

We had liabilities of some $21 million at the end of 2002. At the end of 2003 it looks like they will be $24 million. But we do not know what is going to happen. I think that is sad, given that this transfer has been on the books for some time and given that the minister really should be able to give us a full picture on what is going to happen here. Perhaps he would like in closing the debate to give us at least an estimate, maybe a round figure, if he has any idea at all of what the cost of the transfer will be.

When we have the full picture, perhaps then Assembly members can actually make a decision as to whether they should vote for this transfer today. Without the knowledge of that particular cost and what it means, we would not be making an informed decision. I accept that this transfer is probably a fait accompli, that the numbers will be there for the move back into the ACT public service, but I would ask the members who have not spoken, even those who have, to add their voice to this question of what is the real cost of this transfer to the ACT and, based on full knowledge of the real cost, decide whether such a thing should proceed.

I also have problems with bringing services back into the government and the whole issue of competitive neutrality. Urban Services will be putting out tenders for roads and things like that and ACT Roads, as a unit of Urban Services, will be bidding for them. How do we make sure that the whole process is above board? The dilemma then is the true cost of the service provision. Part of the reason that Totalcare was established was to work out what these services are truly costing the people of the ACT. Taxpayers have the right to know that.

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