Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .
Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2031 ..
MR QUINLAN (4.43): Mr Deputy Speaker, I present the following report:
Finance and Public Administration-Standing Committee (incorporating the Public Accounts Committee)-Finance Committee Report No. 7-Interim Report on Proposed ACTEW/AGL Partnership Arrangement, together with a copy of the extracts of the minutes of proceedings.
I move:
That the report be noted.
As chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration, I report that the committee has determined to bring forward an interim report on the ACTEW/AGL merger proposal which the committee is monitoring. The project we are involved in is probably the most significant financial and economic change made since self-government. Quite obviously, the project does deserve the scrutiny that it has received so far. Members ought to be kept up to date, and should keep themselves up to date on progress.
The committee has been meeting on a regular basis with the associated parties, AGL, ACTEW and the probity auditor, and even on one occasion with one of the shareholders. I can report that we have received nothing but cooperation and openness in the process, and we are quite satisfied with the information that we have received. In fact, we are quite satisfied with the suggestions that we have made and which have been taken up, where appropriate, by the parties interposed in the process.
The committee has, of necessity, adopted a strategic approach focussing on the primary outcomes and risks. It could not embroil itself in all of the minutiae of a project which involves a whole bevy of lawyers and consultants and is occupying the minds of many of the senior administrators both within and without ACTEW in this town. Therefore, we cannot pursue every issue, but we will attempt to advise the Assembly on the extent to which the promised benefits of the venture have been realised or look like being realised and what collateral risks may remain after the project is consummated. We hope, in our final report, to identify matters that the Assembly might wish to consider in relation to further action on this issue.
The committee has not set itself up as the scrutineer of everything that is occurring within this project. That, quite obviously, is the role of government and is the direct responsibility of the shareholders. The committee has not sought to revisit the decision that the Assembly has made but rather how that decision has been implemented in the best interests of the territory and its people. That is not to say that members of the committee do not reserve the right to express their views outside this particular framework.
The committee has focussed, as I said, on the primary issues-on the final corporate and financial structure of the organisation, on the asset structure for the future and the valuations placed upon assets and assets transferred, on the changing risk profile of the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .