Page 2274 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 12 August 2014
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There was discussion with the board. ACTEW as a shareholder of ActewAGL is looking at whether or not they can repatriate some capital from ActewAGL. One would then ask the question: would the government then demand that that money come straight through ACTEW back to the government coffers or will it be left with ACTEW to allow them to pay down some of their debt?
These are important issues, and I think the answers we got were less than clear. The government’s response is to simply note each of these and insist in one case that it will be covered by commercial considerations. I can recall the former Chief Minister saying they would not hide behind commercial-in-confidence and that this was going to be a more honest, more open, more accountable government. But we certainly hear a lot these days of, “Well, we can’t tell you because it’s simply commercial.” This is an organisation owned by the people of the ACT, and the people of the ACT, through their shareholders in this place, have a right to know as much as we can make reasonably available.
We also had a discussion on the brand. Some work is being done on brand differentiation—ACTEW versus ActewAGL versus ACTEW Water. There will be a report to the board apparently in September, and the expectation was that it would be rolled out in the December quarter. We look forward to seeing what that will do.
There was a lot of discussion about staffing and the structure and about how that would affect employees. Again, we will be keeping a very sharp eye on that. It is important that we protect jobs at this stage. But, at the same time, it is about making sure that the organisation is functioning properly and doing the job it was charged to do.
We look forward to some of the decisions that have to be made following the discussions with ActewAGL, and we look forward to the government coming back to this place and certainly telling us what they can. Whether that will be adequate or not, we will find out when we get that information. The debt strategy I think becomes increasingly more important. If members look at the chart in BP3, the debt just goes up and up. There does not seem to be a coherent strategy to repay that debt. It is well and good for the Treasurer to say, “Well, you know, read the budget papers; it’s all in there.” But what is in the budget papers is clearly a line that just increases.
You can constantly say, “We’re happy with the level of debt and we can cover the interest payments.” That is true. But every cent you pay in interest is money that is not being saved or money that is not being used to provide the services that we might need or money that is not left in the pockets of the taxpayer. It is a novel concept that people should spend their own money in the way they see appropriate.
ACTEW is one of the big holders of debt for the territory. I refer members to the chart on page 294 where you can see quite clearly that the public trading entities are picking up a large proportion of the debt. It is important that we get it right; it is important that we are informed; it is important that people understand what their utility is doing for them.
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