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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (6 November) . . Page.. 3700 ..
[COGNATE BILL:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
MR SPEAKER: Is it the wish of the Assembly to debate this order of the day concurrently with the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission (Consequential Provisions) Bill 1997? There being no objection, that course will be followed. I remind members that in debating order of the day No. 1 they may also address their remarks to order of the day No. 2.
MR WHITECROSS (11.30): Mr Speaker, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission Bill, as a starting point, replaces the existing energy and water pricing arrangements that were put in place when ACTEW was corporatised, after amendment by Mr Osborne. But this Bill actually goes substantially further in its powers to regulate and to report on industries within the ACT in relation to electricity, water, sewerage and other industries declared by the Minister to be regulated industries for the purposes of the Act.
The Labor Party certainly agrees that, where you have a regulated industry, where you have an industry exercising a monopoly position in the marketplace, it is appropriate that there be some public institution overseeing its actions and, in particular, the pricing of its services, to ensure that consumer rights are protected in relation to price and service. Whether those services are provided by government-owned corporations, such as electricity, water and sewerage utilities, or by other organisations, it seems to me - and it seems to the Labor Party - that it is appropriate that there be some oversight to ensure that the rights of consumers are protected. Similarly, where we have a regulated industry which has perhaps more than one player, but in a regulated environment, as is proposed for electricity, gas and other industries, there needs to be some authority in place to ensure that the rights of the players and, ultimately, the rights of the consumers are protected.
The Bill provides for the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Commission to fix prices for access to networks and to ensure, in some circumstances, access to networks so that people competing in the retail end of markets where competition is allowed are able to compete in those markets with appropriate access to the infrastructure. I think that is appropriate. The Bill also contains provisions for arbitration by the commission where disputes arise in relation to access, and some other matters. On the face of it,
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