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The ACT Liberal Government has given a firm commitment that it will not - I emphasise “not” - privatise ACTEW, ACTION or ACTTAB. The ACT Liberal Government - let me repeat the commitment, in case people did not hear it the first and second times - will not privatise ACTEW, ACTION or ACTTAB. An interesting case study is the Government Aircraft Factories, which became Aerospace Technologies of Australia. In its first three years as a corporatised business it increased its export sales by 24 per cent. That 24 per cent return went right back into providing services for the community. So, we are talking about making a business better, making an entity better, by removing the shackles it might have. Ultimately, the benefit comes back to the community.

Ms Horodny mentioned Hilmer, and Hilmer is the one everybody talks about when the word “corporatisation” comes along. The Hilmer reforms endorsed by the heads of all Australian governments involved further competitive changes to government-owned enterprises. In the energy industry alone, for example, the Industry Commission estimates a gain of $2.4 billion from corporatisation of Australia’s electricity and gas utilities. That is something we need to look at. When people as eminent as that come to us and say, “There is a better way of doing things”, of course we have to listen and see what they are talking about, especially as it seems to work in other places in the world as well as in Australia.

All State and Territory governments are corporatising government business enterprises to some degree. Last night, I heard Mr Michael Egan, the Labor Minister for Finance in the New South Wales Government, talking about corporatising utilities in New South Wales. Here is a Minister in a Labor Government, elected two or three weeks ago, on all television channels last night saying what a wonderful thing corporatisation is. What was one of the first appointments made by the New South Wales Government? Whom did it put in to chair Pacific Power? Professor Hilmer, for heaven's sake. Professor Hilmer was appointed to chair Pacific Power. Why? Because they could see the benefits of making sure that that organisation delivers a better service to its customers, and of course they should. Overseas, the story goes on and on.

Let us have a look at one of the instances in the ACT. Totalcare was corporatised on 1 January 1992. Within six months Totalcare was recording a profit, doing the same sort of thing as it was doing before it was corporatised but using better practices. Corporatisation has resulted in savings of $1.4m to the taxpayer from improved efficiency in one area alone, once again under the stewardship of Mr Connolly, initially.

Mr Connolly: And we saved a lot more in ACTION without corporatising.

MR DE DOMENICO: Yes; but now we are comparing apples and bananas.

Mr Whitecross: Disregard all that stuff about Totalcare. It is not relevant.

MR DE DOMENICO: No; Totalcare was a fine example under a Labor government; it continued to be corporatised. So, we are talking about a better service.

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