Electricity Industry Privatisation

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: My question is directed to the Premier. In light of the Premier's meeting today with backroom party bosses over the proposed sale of the State's energy assets—

The SPEAKER: Order! Government members will remain silent. Government members will cease interjecting. The Leader of the Opposition has the call.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: In light of the Premier's meeting today with backroom party bosses over the proposed sale of the State's electricity industry—

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Bathurst to order.

Mr BARRY O'FARRELL: —will the Premier now honour his obligations to the people of New South Wales and reveal how far he is prepared to go, at what cost to taxpayers and with what inducements to the unions in order to deliver his face-saving compromise?

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: Lots and lots of detail. For the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, this morning's meeting was a meeting of the joint campaign committee comprising the Australian Labor Party officers and the parliamentary leadership.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: It was consistent with a motion moved on Sunday for a meeting of the joint campaign committee. It was a very constructive meeting, entirely consistent with the motion moved on Sunday. Let us get to matters of detail. I note the second part of the question and I will come to that in a minute. However, noting the second part of the question, would one not think, after yesterday's events when the Opposition was running around looking for somewhere to hide, that today it might take the opportunity, given the challenge that electricity reform presents, to state a position?

Mr Adrian Piccoli: What is your position?

The SPEAKER: Order! Opposition members will remain silent.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: I think the member for Murrumbidgee has been on leave for too long. He has not been following the commentary on this issue. The Opposition does not need details of the Government's position to state its position.

The SPEAKER: Order! I will not tolerate the disorderly behaviour of members during question time. I will not tolerate screaming across the Chamber. If members continue to interject they will be removed from the Chamber.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: I will come to detail in a second, but the point is this: For months the Leader of the Opposition has been saying, "I can't state a position until the Government releases details." The Leader of the Opposition has two options—possibly three. As the alternative leader he can either adopt the same policies or he can adopt alternative policies. I guess the third option is that he has no policy at all. It is very hard to find the policy of the Leader of the Opposition. He said, "I can only come to a position when I see the Government's details." He does not need any details to state a principle and he does not need any details to craft an alternative. For a year his position has revealed that he simply does not have the courage to come to a position, he does not have the courage to develop a policy position, and he does not have the courage to craft an alternative. That is what this issue has exposed.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Epping to order. I call the member for Willoughby to order.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: The Leader of The Nationals should go back to his statements a year ago in this House when he stood up straight after his leader had made his speech in reply to the budget and said that he would sell retail electricity.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of The Nationals to order.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: If I recall correctly, after the Leader of the Nationals said that he would sell retail electricity he then said, "In doing so we have to remember consumers." That was it; he has not said a word since. In that same speech he said, "Of course, there has to be consideration of workers."

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Willoughby to order for the second time.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: He said that we should remember consumers and there should be consideration of workers. He stood up and said, "We'll sell New South Wales retail electricity", and that was it. We have not heard a word from him since then about what sort of consideration he would give to consumers. Would he regulate prices, and would he continue to do so? If so, for how long? Would he do it through the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, as the Government is proposing—detail number 2—or would he establish a new pricing tribunal, a pricing commission, or an electricity pricing commission? Who knows, because we have not heard. A year ago we heard him say there should be consideration for workers. The Government's position, whether on electricity generation or retail electricity, has set out three-year and five-year guarantees and protections—detail number 3.

The Government outlined in the retail area that the retail workforce has a choice—detail number 4. Those who wish to transfer to the new operators will receive a transfer price and protections as they go—detail number 5. Those who do not have the right to choose, stay with the Government—detail number 6. They stay in their same workplace and working for the Government—detail number 7. That is just on retail electricity. There are plenty more details on generation and on pricing. The Leader of the Nationals made no mention—other than establishing an infrastructure fund and perhaps spending the money in education—of investment in cleaner, greener energy. The Government has established a cleaner, greener energy fund—detail number 8. From memory, at last count it is about $1 billion. When we have finalised our demand energy efficiency policies I will have more details that I would be happy to release to Opposition members in the coming weeks.

[Interruption]

As the Minister for Climate Change reminded me, in the coming weeks there will be lots of details about demand efficiency, energy efficiency and what we propose to do. As part of the Government's package we will be investing the proceeds in an intergenerational fund, or I prefer to use the term "community infrastructure fund". I think at last count that was about detail number 12. What have we seen from the Opposition?

[Interruption]

That is correct. As the member said, we have seen nothing. I would have thought that on something as important as the State's future energy needs we would have heard more from the Opposition than rhetoric or its statement, "We cannot come to a position until we see more detail."

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Murrumbidgee to order.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: The Leader of the Opposition cannot state a principle. Here is some detail. A year ago the Leader of the Opposition said that he would sell retail electricity. Has he walked away from his statement—yes or no? Does he accept that New South Wales requires more electricity—yes or no? If so, because he has not yet said so, how does he propose to secure that supply? Does he propose to have it fully publicly funded? If so, how will he fund it? Will he ditch the four-year infrastructure projects in Budget Paper No. 4 to fund it? Will he increase State taxes? Will he increase State borrowings, or will he abandon any projects that we announce, such as North West Metro or other projects in this budget, or will he pick apart the 10-year State infrastructure strategy and abandon that? Those are plenty of questions for the Leader of the Opposition and plenty of policy positions for him to—

Mr Barry O'Farrell: Point of order—

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will cease interjecting. I remind the member for Bathurst that he is already on a call to order.

Mr Barry O'Farrell: My point of order relates to standing order 29. I have listened with interest to the Premier. My question, which was simple, was: Would the Premier detail to the public what inducements he has on offer to deliver his compromise?

The SPEAKER: Order! The Premier's answer is relevant to the question.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: First, the Owen report outlined a range of issues on jobs, employment, prices, environment and consumers that the Government would need to address in its response. Second, the Unsworth committee, in assessing the impact of the Government's response and its policy, went through a range of factors that had to be taken into consideration, assisted by Reverend Harry Herbert and Jeff Angel.

The SPEAKER: Order! I call the member for Murrumbidgee to order for the second time.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: As I just outlined in relation to demand management and energy efficiency, the Government continues to take into account issues of environmental protection, demand management and consumer protection. Witness more detail! I refer to the retailer of last resort. A year ago, when the Leader of the Opposition announced that he would get rid of retail electricity, he said nothing about disconnection policy, retailer of last resort, indexing pensioner rebates, providing extra assistance or allowances to those on a sickness benefit, or a safety net for the disadvantaged. He said nothing. Today he asked this Government about detail when he cannot come to a landing on something as important as this. No wonder he has been copping such a hammering in the last 48 hours.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members will come to order.

Mr MORRIS IEMMA: At the risk of being quoted by Mike Carlton again tomorrow morning let me remind members what he had to say this morning. How did he finish his program yesterday? The Leader of the Opposition should not make me repeat it again in the House. He said, "I wouldn't"—expletive deleted—"if you were on fire." That is what he said yesterday. At the risk of being quoted again tomorrow morning, and I apologise to Mr Carlton, "The only person who is not is the Liberal leader who is flying around pie-in-the-sky, airy-fairy, not clear on what he is going to do next."