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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 8 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 2509 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

Mr Speaker, in light of the statement earlier this day by the Chief Minister in respect of the proposed ACTEW/AGL partnership, I am delighted that my committee, the Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Services, has produced a unanimous report recommending that the parliament proceed with Australia's first regime to deal with electricity, gas, water and sewerage under one piece of legislation.

All of the evidence the committee examined pointed to overall support amongst utilities and interest groups for the broad intention of the government's legislation. The legislation will require utilities to have operating licences for specific services that they provide and will contain a number of specific conditions that will be enforceable by a regulatory commission or by the minister.

Consumers will be protected by legally enforceable standards to be specified in all contracts, and the legislation package will provide for a consumer protection code. Specific legal rights of utilities are set out in the legislation as well as rights of access to, and ownership of, assets and infrastructure.

The legislation also sets out the responsibilities of three oversighting bodies: the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Essential Services Consumer Council (ESCC), and the chief executive of Urban Services, as the technical regulator.

The legislation package the committee examined is well over 500 pages long, with two bills and some 22 related supporting documents, including various codes and licences. The package is extremely complex and in parts highly technical. We are delighted that a unanimous position on the issue has been achieved. I think this was largely due to the quality of the legislation and the hard work the government put into the producing it since first releasing its statement of regulatory intent in November 1998. Committee members were of the view that it is a very thorough and comprehensive package. For that, I feel that the government and officers from the joint development task force should be congratulated for their achievements to date.

The committee has recommended to the parliament that the package should proceed and has made a number of other recommendations. We were keen to see that consumer protection and access to the information were of the highest level, and accordingly we made specific recommendations on these matters. These additional recommendations included broadening the membership of the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission to include expertise in consumer issues, increasing the rights of consumers and utilities to appeal decisions of the ICRC, and introducing a process of issuing draft decisions of the ICRC for public comment.

This legislation will have far-reaching implications for the framework under which utilities will operate and deliver services to the ACT community. Consequently, the committee also recommended that after the legislation is implemented it be monitored by this parliament and that after a period of 18 months has elapsed the government advise the Assembly how it is working.

Mr Speaker, on behalf of my colleagues I thank those who assisted the committee in its inquiry. I would in particular like to thank the inquiry secretary-Mr David James, who was seconded from the department-for his expertise, his thoroughness and the way he

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