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ELECTRICITY CORPORATIONS (RESTRUCTURING AND DISPOSAL) BILL In Committee.
Clause 2.
The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: I move:
Page 1, lines 17 and 18—Leave out this clause and insert: Commencement2. (1) Section 1 and this section come into operation on the day on which this Act is assented to by the Governor. (2) The remainder of this Act will come into operation on a day to be fixed by proclamation. (3) A proclamation cannot be made to bring a provision of this Act into operation unless a majority of electors for the House of Assembly voting at a referendum approves the following proposition:
That the Government of South Australia be at liberty to dispose of public electricity infrastructure, whether by sale, the granting of leases or otherwise. (4) The Governor may, by proclamation, appoint a day for the holding of such a referendum. (5) The Electoral Commissioner will be responsible for the conduct of such a referendum. (6) The Electoral Act 1985 will apply to such a referendum with adaptations, exclusions and modifications prescribed by regulations under this section as if the referendum were a general election of members of the House of Assembly. (7) The Electoral Commissioner must, not later than 14 days before the day appointed for the holding of such a referendum, post to each elector eligible to vote at the referendum a pamphlet containing—
(a) the argument in favour of the proposition, consisting of not more than 2 000 words, prepared by the Premier; and (b) the argument against the proposition, consisting of not more than 2 000 words, prepared by the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly after consultation with the Leader of the Australian Democrats in the Legislative Council. (8) The Electoral Commissioner may reject a written argument prepared for or against the proposition if, in the Commissioner's opinion, the argument contains scandalous or defamatory material. (9) The Electoral Commissioner may, as the Electoral Commissioner considers appropriate, prepare, print and distribute information contained in the pamphlets posted to electors in their languages or in a form suitable for the visually impaired. (10) The State must not expend money in respect of the presentation of the argument in favour of, or the argument against, the proposition except for the purposes of the performance of the functions of the Electoral Commissioner under this section. (11) When the result of such a referendum is known, the Electoral Commissioner must declare the result by notice in the Gazette. (12) The Governor may make regulations for the purposes of this section. This amendment provides for the holding of a referendum. If, as it appears, the Hon. Trevor Crothers intends to support legislation to allow for a lease of ETSA, the effect of my amendment would be that South Australians would have an opportunity to vote on this matter in a referendum before the Act could come into force. An honourable member: Is he listening to you now? The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: Unfortunately, the Hon. Trevor Crothers is not present in the Chamber. He did say that he would listen to the debate, so I hope that he is in his office listening on his loud speaker. Members interjecting: The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: Given that the honourable member said that he would listen to the debate, I sincerely hope that he is doing so. The Hon. Trevor Crothers is on record saying in this place that, had this matter gone to the South Australian people, had the Liberals been honest enough at the last election to go to the people of South Australia and say, `We want to sell ETSA,' the South Australian people could have voted on it, but that opportunity has been denied them. The Hon. Trevor Crothers himself said that, if the Liberals had gone to the election saying that they wanted to sell ETSA, he would be hard pressed not to support the legislation. Nothing has changed: the South Australian people still have not had the opportunity to say what they want to say about the disposal of this prime asset. I ask members to support me in having this referendum clause inserted. I am very disturbed by the con that this Government has managed to perpetrate on the South Australian people—and, obviously, on some members of Parliament. I was interested to read the arguments put by the Hon. Trevor Crothers in this morning's Advertiser. It appears that he has fallen for these arguments. Even he is using the lie that South Australia must pay $2 million a day in interest when the figure is so much closer to $1.5 million. One wonders about a Government that cannot tell the difference between $1.5 million and $2 million. It would make a big difference to the number of hospital beds in some cases if the Government in its calculations could tell the difference between $1.5 million and $2 million. That is a difference of $500 000 a day which this Government is apparently not taking into its calculations. So, again I was disappointed to read those arguments and to see that the Hon. Trevor Crothers has apparently swallowed that lie. I am also disappointed that the honourable member is even contemplating a lease, because it is known that a lease brings in a return of somewhere between 10 and 30 per cent less than the sale price. So, in many ways, the option that is now being followed is going to— The Hon. R.D. Lawson interjecting: The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: That is the advice that was given to the Tasmanian Government by an international expert. This Government appears to like international experts, and this one was Credit Suisse First Boston. It gave that advice to the Tasmanian Government. So, if it applies to the leasing of Tasmanian electricity assets, it also applies here. I ask the Hon. Trevor Crothers to take that into account when he makes his decision: that we would actually be further down the gurgler. With interest rates as they currently are and with the stream of income that we would lose, South Australia would effectively be in the red from day one. I am sad that so many people have been conned by this Government and are not even looking at information such as this. It is worthwhile to reflect on the comment made by Ronald Reagan when he was Governor of California. He said, `Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession; I have come to realise that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.' Should this Parliament pass this Bill, the world's two oldest professions will be fused in the imagination of the South Australian public. Each member of this Chamber should reflect once again on the pledges of the three major Parties at the last State election. In unison we all chanted, `We shall not sell ETSA.'
502 The Hon. M.J. Elliott: One of them was lying.
The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: One of them was lying, and I wonder who it was. There is no doubt that the vast majority of South Australians were relieved to hear that commitment from all three political Parties, but now it appears that a majority of the members of this Chamber are prepared to break their word. Make no mistake about it: our parliamentary system will be the poorer should we break this pledge. Our standing in the community, which is already low, will tumble to new lows if we dishonour our word. There are times when it might be legitimate for Government or Opposition Party to change tack, to reverse policy, but this is certainly not one of them. This is a touchstone of the validity of our electoral system. Sell ETSA and, at the same time, we trade this institution's legitimacy. The people of South Australia have been denied an opportunity to cast their vote on the sale of the family silverware. Indeed, they have been denied a thorough examination of the opposing arguments. A referendum will provide an opportunity to finally put all the arguments on the table in a cool and dispassionate manner. Until this occurs, this Chamber does not have the right to circumvent the electorate's approval. I urge all members of the Legislative Council to fulfil their democratic obligations and support my amendment for a referendum. And a word of warning for those who do not: the public will neither forgive nor forget those who have taken them for granted.