Page 2420 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 2 August 2017
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To come directly to the point why Icon Water has not released documents in full, the company’s management has consulted the third-party provider who delivers these services under the agreement and has determined that significant elements of them are, as the Leader of the Opposition has indicated, commercial-in-confidence, that is, these documents contain information that is commercially sensitive to the provider, clearly regarding, and particularly regarding, its service delivery model and of course its cost to serve.
Nevertheless, Icon Water’s board and management will review the agreements in question and determine whether there are sections which can be released that do not impinge on commercial confidentiality. This is properly a decision for the board and management to make and is not one that members of this place are in a position to determine, because we are not involved with the day-to-day running of the company.
As shareholders, the minister for water and I will make clear to Icon Water’s board and management the expectations that we have regarding value for money that are implicit in both the legislation that governs this organisation’s operations and indeed their own procurement guidelines as they relate to the procurement of services.
It goes without saying that all commercial firms seek value for money across their operations but we will remind Icon’s board and management that there is a higher standard required of publicly owned companies that they should be held to and we will particularly request that they examine how they best meet these expectations when entering into new contracts beyond 2023.
In accordance with the amendment that I have moved to this motion, we will formalise these requirements with the Icon board. I specifically refer to those that are contained in (i) and (j) of the amendment that I have moved. This is again an appropriate response to the issues that have been raised but I do note that these agreements commenced under the Carnell Liberal government when what was a 100 per cent publicly owned asset was partially privatised. The extent to which the now leader of the Liberal Party seeks to bring back fully into the public sector, effectively, through the comments he has made in relation particularly to the joint venture, if that is—
Mr Coe: No, just go to market. That is all we are asking. Go to market.
MR BARR: The opportunity to go to market is there in 2023. In that context, if that is all that the Leader of the Opposition is asking, that is entirely reasonable and that is what I have just indicated that the shareholders will require of the board in 2023.
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (6.12): I was a member of the estimates committee, which is where this issue first came up, and I am sure that many witnesses at the estimates committee privately think to themselves that the estimates process is a huge amount of work and probably not really worth it. But the operations of government are very large and complex. There is no way that Ministers, MLAs and/or
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