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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (1 March) . . Page.. 444 ..
MR BERRY: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Is it not true, Treasurer, that, in the event of the partnership falling apart, it would be unlikely that the Government would be happy to pay back the $100m, and we would lose ACTEW forever?
Mr Humphries: What?
MR BERRY: I will start again if the Treasurer does not understand. Can the Treasurer imagine the Government volunteering to pay back the $100m in order to get the assets back?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot say we would not be happy about paying the money and taking back the assets and then say that we have not got ACTEW. Mr Berry has misunderstood the nature of this transfer once again. The assets are transferred into the partnership. I want to correct slightly something that Mr Mackay said on the radio this morning. The presenter of one of the ABC's programs said that there is going to be a new company and the assets will be transferred to this new company. I think the answer Mr Mackay gave suggested that that would be the case.
There will not be a company. The assets will be transferred into a partnership which will consist of subsidiaries of ACTEW and AGL. Those subsidiaries which are wholly owned by ACTEW and AGL will operate the business and hold the assets. They will jointly and separately own the assets. That means that, if and when the partnership is dissolved, you take back the assets.
Mr Berry: And the $100m.
MR HUMPHRIES: You would have to repay the $100m, yes. You said that we would not be happy about that. Of course we would not be happy, because we would end up losing the chance of a joint venture. But, if that is the way it worked out, if ACTEW said, "This is not working in the interests of the Territory; undo the deal", we could do so. That is why your claims that this is a sale are wrong.
Mr Berry: It is a sale.
MR HUMPHRIES: With a sale, you cannot get your assets back. If I sell Mr Kaine my car, I cannot go back to Mr Kaine and say, "I want my car back".
Mr Kaine: I would not buy it from you.
MR HUMPHRIES
: You probably wouldn't. It is a very good car, but I would not be able to get it back unless Mr Kaine wanted to give it to me. But with this arrangement I can get my assets back in the event that the partnership is terminated. That is why this is not a sale. I do not know why I am explaining this, Mr Speaker. Mr Berry is not listening, and he does not care what I say about the matter. But the fact is that it is not a sale and the assets do come back to the ACT. Yes, we would end up having to pay $100m or whatever the figure might be, but we are no worse off doing that because we
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