Mrs HICKEY - 1995-08-16
Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table a copy of the Country Liberal Party's plans to privatise 120 jobs in the Power and Water Authority.
Leave granted.
Mrs HICKEY: Will the minister confirm that he is planning to issue contracts to these companies without going to public tender? Will the minister confirm that at least one of these companies has senior staff of the Power and Water Authority as its directors? Will the minister concede that this is a backdoor method of handing over private ownership of public assets without going to public tender?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, all I can say is that I feel as I imagine those old diggers we were with yesterday must have felt when finally going over the start line to attack.
Mrs Hickey: You have not held the portfolio for very long.
Mr BURKE: I have been sitting here through Question Time, as a brand-new minister ...
Mr Bell: Just answer the question.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: I have been reading through my notes since 6 am trying to figure out whether I have covered everything and I have been waiting for the opposition's incisive question.
Mrs Hickey: Well, start talking.
Mr Ede: Here it is, get on with it.
Mr BURKE: It was so bad yesterday that the member for Sanderson became so concerned that he thought he might fax a question to the opposition himself. That might well be the question I have been asked.
This is a serious dispute and it is a matter about which all government members are very concerned. In my view, it is sad that it has taken a day and a half for this question to reach the
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floor of the Chamber. Although the opposition expresses concern on this issue now, I want Territorians to understand that, during the whole of this dispute, I have received not one question from the opposition spokesperson on power and water asking how the dispute is progressing, where there are concerns throughout the Territory, where outages are occurring and what we are doing about it all.
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr BURKE: There has been not a single question or even telephone call from any member of the opposition ...
Mr Ede: That is garbage! What about in Tennant Creek?
Mr BURKE: ... all of whom have problems in their electorates and all of whom express great concern about the difficulties being experienced in their electorates.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr BURKE: There has been not one telephone call, not a single question from any of them, yet a path has been beaten to my door by my colleagues telling me to sort out the problems in their electorates.
In terms of the question as to whether I or the government intend to privatise the Power and Water Authority, the answer is unequivocally no. We believe the Power and Water Authority is well structured. Clearly, there is room for efficiencies to be gained and that is what this current EBA is all about. I have talked with the workers. There is confusion amongst them. That confusion has not been helped by a couple of statements made in the media by members of the opposition. The most that the member for Barkly has said is that I am ham-fisted in my approach. The member for Nhulunbuy quoted selectively from a steering committee report, telling the workers that they had achieved a 30% productivity gain and that they should be paid for it.
Mr Stirling: I never said that.
Mr BURKE: It might be good enough to grab a headline, but it is not good for the average blue collar worker, who takes those words at their face value ...
Mr Stirling: Be careful how you quote me. I have never said that.
Mr BURKE: ... and truly believes that he has a case. Someone has to tell him that there is no case.
Efficiency gains of 27% have been achieved over a 5-year period. However, the flat truth of the matter is that those efficiencies have been achieved through greater power usage, increased numbers of connections, the extension of power connections and charges to Aboriginal communities, some restructuring of the authority and, certainly, damn good efforts by many blue collar workers. However, that does not translate to a 30% increase in wages.
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Mr Stirling: I did not suggest that.
Mr BURKE: If one were generous, one would offer them half - 12.5%. However, over that same 5-year period, with CPI increases and flat wage increases, they have been given 12.5%. As recently as 1994, they received a 4% increase. The current offer is for 3% in the first year and 4% in the second year. This is amortised in gains right across the public service. We believe that is a fair offer for the blue collar workers.
Mr Stirling: Why don't you give them a separate process?
Mr BURKE: I am trying to explain to them, and members opposite could help me in making them understand, that the Power and Water Authority has gone from a situation of loss in which federal government subsidies were received, to a situation where, in 1994, its operations were cost neutral, it received no federal subsidy and a government undertaking was given not to increase tariffs until 1998 at the earliest. To achieve all that does not translate into a wage increase anywhere near what is being sought. It translates into the wage increase which is equitable at the moment. I am trying to have them understand that.
I am saying that I have no intention of privatising the Power and Water Authority but that, if these bans continue ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: A group of them asked me the other night what would be the trigger that would make me go to contract. I said that, if there were to be a major power outage and I asked them to fix it and they did not, that would be the trigger. Apart from that, there will be no further move towards contracting and I hope that we will be able to resolve this matter amongst ourselves.
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Leave granted.
Mrs HICKEY: Will the minister confirm that he is planning to issue contracts to these companies without going to public tender? Will the minister confirm that at least one of these companies has senior staff of the Power and Water Authority as its directors? Will the minister concede that this is a backdoor method of handing over private ownership of public assets without going to public tender?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, all I can say is that I feel as I imagine those old diggers we were with yesterday must have felt when finally going over the start line to attack.
Mrs Hickey: You have not held the portfolio for very long.
Mr BURKE: I have been sitting here through Question Time, as a brand-new minister ...
Mr Bell: Just answer the question.
Members interjecting.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr BURKE: I have been reading through my notes since 6 am trying to figure out whether I have covered everything and I have been waiting for the opposition's incisive question.
Mrs Hickey: Well, start talking.
Mr Ede: Here it is, get on with it.
Mr BURKE: It was so bad yesterday that the member for Sanderson became so concerned that he thought he might fax a question to the opposition himself. That might well be the question I have been asked.
This is a serious dispute and it is a matter about which all government members are very concerned. In my view, it is sad that it has taken a day and a half for this question to reach the
Page 712
floor of the Chamber. Although the opposition expresses concern on this issue now, I want Territorians to understand that, during the whole of this dispute, I have received not one question from the opposition spokesperson on power and water asking how the dispute is progressing, where there are concerns throughout the Territory, where outages are occurring and what we are doing about it all.
Mrs Hickey interjecting.
Mr BURKE: There has been not a single question or even telephone call from any member of the opposition ...
Mr Ede: That is garbage! What about in Tennant Creek?
Mr BURKE: ... all of whom have problems in their electorates and all of whom express great concern about the difficulties being experienced in their electorates.
Mr Ede interjecting.
Mr BURKE: There has been not one telephone call, not a single question from any of them, yet a path has been beaten to my door by my colleagues telling me to sort out the problems in their electorates.
In terms of the question as to whether I or the government intend to privatise the Power and Water Authority, the answer is unequivocally no. We believe the Power and Water Authority is well structured. Clearly, there is room for efficiencies to be gained and that is what this current EBA is all about. I have talked with the workers. There is confusion amongst them. That confusion has not been helped by a couple of statements made in the media by members of the opposition. The most that the member for Barkly has said is that I am ham-fisted in my approach. The member for Nhulunbuy quoted selectively from a steering committee report, telling the workers that they had achieved a 30% productivity gain and that they should be paid for it.
Mr Stirling: I never said that.
Mr BURKE: It might be good enough to grab a headline, but it is not good for the average blue collar worker, who takes those words at their face value ...
Mr Stirling: Be careful how you quote me. I have never said that.
Mr BURKE: ... and truly believes that he has a case. Someone has to tell him that there is no case.
Efficiency gains of 27% have been achieved over a 5-year period. However, the flat truth of the matter is that those efficiencies have been achieved through greater power usage, increased numbers of connections, the extension of power connections and charges to Aboriginal communities, some restructuring of the authority and, certainly, damn good efforts by many blue collar workers. However, that does not translate to a 30% increase in wages.
Page 713
Mr Stirling: I did not suggest that.
Mr BURKE: If one were generous, one would offer them half - 12.5%. However, over that same 5-year period, with CPI increases and flat wage increases, they have been given 12.5%. As recently as 1994, they received a 4% increase. The current offer is for 3% in the first year and 4% in the second year. This is amortised in gains right across the public service. We believe that is a fair offer for the blue collar workers.
Mr Stirling: Why don't you give them a separate process?
Mr BURKE: I am trying to explain to them, and members opposite could help me in making them understand, that the Power and Water Authority has gone from a situation of loss in which federal government subsidies were received, to a situation where, in 1994, its operations were cost neutral, it received no federal subsidy and a government undertaking was given not to increase tariffs until 1998 at the earliest. To achieve all that does not translate into a wage increase anywhere near what is being sought. It translates into the wage increase which is equitable at the moment. I am trying to have them understand that.
I am saying that I have no intention of privatising the Power and Water Authority but that, if these bans continue ...
Ms Martin interjecting.
Mr BURKE: A group of them asked me the other night what would be the trigger that would make me go to contract. I said that, if there were to be a major power outage and I asked them to fix it and they did not, that would be the trigger. Apart from that, there will be no further move towards contracting and I hope that we will be able to resolve this matter amongst ourselves.
Page 714
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016