Mr BALCH - 1999-08-11
In today’s NT News, the Opposition Leader says she opposes competition in the power sector. Yet I remember in February the Opposition Leader said she supported privatisation in the power sector. This was repeated, I understand, by Labor during the recent by-elections. Can the Chief Minister confirm the truth of this, and tell us where Labor really stands on this issue?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I pointed yesterday to the fact that only one commentator to my mind, the commentator who wrote this article in the Weekend Australian magazine, made the point …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, member for Stuart!
Mr BURKE: I apologise in advance to the students from Japan for the conduct of the rabble on the other side of the House.
Where precisely does she stand, the commentator asks. Now, that is a question I hope the Opposition Leader comes under more interrogation for. Today was a classic example. If we pick up today’s NT News we have Clare Martin quoted as saying that the ALP’s policy was against competition in the power industry. This is 11 August, a Wednesday. If we go back to 24 February 1999’s NT News, Clare Martin said Labor was ‘not opposed to alternative providers of electricity in the Northern Territory’. Also, in the Labor by-election campaign, Labor’s candidate Nicole Cridland, who was obviously schooled by the Labor minders, stood up and said on TOP-FM: ‘I support the opening-up of a system to allow private suppliers to sell power to the grid’.
This is a clear example of the sort of thing that I’ve been saying for some time. Clare Martin, the Labor leader, is good at the 15-second grab. She’ll run it off the top of her head. She’ll go for the grab. She’s a media junkie. But when it comes to …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: Territorians will judge a new government and a pretender on substance. At the end of the day, it is simply substance and consistency we ask for. That is hardly much to demand. Today you say you are against competition in the power industry. In February, you said Labor was not opposed to alternative providers of electricity in the Northern Territory and, as late as the by-election, a Labor candidate supported the opening-up of the system.
Where does the Labor leader stand? I suggest that the Labor leader doesn’t know the difference between privatisation and competition, and that’s where she has herself muddled. That’s where she’s put her foot cleanly in her mouth, because the difference between privatisation and competition is a big difference. Would you accept that much, at the very least?
She also went on to say: ‘The Territory has such a situation and such a complex market’. What does that mean? ‘The Territory has such a situation in such a complex market’. It’s not a complex situation at all. We have one government provider which is being restructured. In order to get lower power costs throughout the Northern Territory …
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, member for Nhulunbuy!
Mr BURKE: … what happens as a pretty normal business or economic practice is that first of you all you have to get a provider efficient so they can deliver, in this instance, electricity at a fair cost so that their overheads are structurally competitive and efficient. That’s the first thing. Competition in any market, surely, could not be blatantly dismissed. How else would we get lower telephone calls into Australia if we hadn’t introduced Optus into the system against Telstra?
But here today in the paper we have a pretender to the throne, the alternative leader of government with her rabble, saying that Labor is against competition. That is her statement. It’s an inconsistent statement with that one that was made in February. I simply ask, where do you stand? Do you understand the difference? And if you stand strongly against competition, don’t have the unabashed gall to come in here and start telling us about supporting business. Any businessman will tell you, any consumer will tell you, that competition in itself is good. That’s the way the marketplace operates. That’s the way we get lower overheads.
Shortly we will see the result of the food prices inquiry. It will be interesting when that inquiry comes down to see what the assessment of this bipartisan committee was of competition affecting the market in terms of the improvement of goods and services in that area.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I pointed yesterday to the fact that only one commentator to my mind, the commentator who wrote this article in the Weekend Australian magazine, made the point …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, member for Stuart!
Mr BURKE: I apologise in advance to the students from Japan for the conduct of the rabble on the other side of the House.
Where precisely does she stand, the commentator asks. Now, that is a question I hope the Opposition Leader comes under more interrogation for. Today was a classic example. If we pick up today’s NT News we have Clare Martin quoted as saying that the ALP’s policy was against competition in the power industry. This is 11 August, a Wednesday. If we go back to 24 February 1999’s NT News, Clare Martin said Labor was ‘not opposed to alternative providers of electricity in the Northern Territory’. Also, in the Labor by-election campaign, Labor’s candidate Nicole Cridland, who was obviously schooled by the Labor minders, stood up and said on TOP-FM: ‘I support the opening-up of a system to allow private suppliers to sell power to the grid’.
This is a clear example of the sort of thing that I’ve been saying for some time. Clare Martin, the Labor leader, is good at the 15-second grab. She’ll run it off the top of her head. She’ll go for the grab. She’s a media junkie. But when it comes to …
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: Territorians will judge a new government and a pretender on substance. At the end of the day, it is simply substance and consistency we ask for. That is hardly much to demand. Today you say you are against competition in the power industry. In February, you said Labor was not opposed to alternative providers of electricity in the Northern Territory and, as late as the by-election, a Labor candidate supported the opening-up of the system.
Where does the Labor leader stand? I suggest that the Labor leader doesn’t know the difference between privatisation and competition, and that’s where she has herself muddled. That’s where she’s put her foot cleanly in her mouth, because the difference between privatisation and competition is a big difference. Would you accept that much, at the very least?
She also went on to say: ‘The Territory has such a situation and such a complex market’. What does that mean? ‘The Territory has such a situation in such a complex market’. It’s not a complex situation at all. We have one government provider which is being restructured. In order to get lower power costs throughout the Northern Territory …
Mr Stirling interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order, member for Nhulunbuy!
Mr BURKE: … what happens as a pretty normal business or economic practice is that first of you all you have to get a provider efficient so they can deliver, in this instance, electricity at a fair cost so that their overheads are structurally competitive and efficient. That’s the first thing. Competition in any market, surely, could not be blatantly dismissed. How else would we get lower telephone calls into Australia if we hadn’t introduced Optus into the system against Telstra?
But here today in the paper we have a pretender to the throne, the alternative leader of government with her rabble, saying that Labor is against competition. That is her statement. It’s an inconsistent statement with that one that was made in February. I simply ask, where do you stand? Do you understand the difference? And if you stand strongly against competition, don’t have the unabashed gall to come in here and start telling us about supporting business. Any businessman will tell you, any consumer will tell you, that competition in itself is good. That’s the way the marketplace operates. That’s the way we get lower overheads.
Shortly we will see the result of the food prices inquiry. It will be interesting when that inquiry comes down to see what the assessment of this bipartisan committee was of competition affecting the market in terms of the improvement of goods and services in that area.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016