Treasury Modelling

The Hon. GREG PEARCE [11.13 a.m.]: I move:

That, under Standing Order 52, there be laid upon the table of the House within 14 days of the date of the passing of this resolution any documents in the possession, custody or control of the Treasurer of New South Wales Treasury relating to:

(a) the medium term fiscal model and the projections outside the current estimates period provided to the report of the Owen inquiry and referred to on pages 6 and 22 of the Owen inquiry into electricity supply in New South Wales, including all supporting calculations and assumptions;

(b) any Treasury modelling, including all supporting calculations and assumptions, referred to by the Treasurer in his speech to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 3 April 2008, and relating to the economic impact of cuts to greenhouse emissions recommended by Professor Ross Garnaut;

(c) the projections and modelling, including all supporting calculations and assumptions, for future capital spending referred to at the Treasury briefing by the Office of Financial Management held in the Parliament House Theatrette on 27 March 2008; and

(d) any document which records or refers to the production of documents as a result of this order of the House.

My comments will be brief. The motion relates to an order for papers relating to Treasury modelling documents. The papers comprise Treasury forward forecasts that have been prepared in relation to matters of great public importance—the electricity sale, about which members will have different views on what the figures show, the impacts of climate change and the carbon trading scheme, and future capital expenditure. It is important for the documents to be available in the public arena while debates on electricity and climate change are in their current crucial stages so that they can be tested against all the other commentators and the budget papers.

I very carefully drafted the motion so that it is narrowly defined. It relates only to the documents that have been prepared already by Treasury. It is not a fishing exercise. I cannot see that there are any loose ends in anything that is asked for. The motion is very specific. Each of the documents already has been referred to publicly by the Treasurer or provided selectively by the Government. Given that the documents have been used by the Government to publicly advance its views, great public interest in having the documents available for review has been created.

It is inappropriate for the Treasurer to be able to selectively use the public's resource, the Treasury, to develop his personal arguments. Where the Treasury does work, it works for the public, in the public interest, and it is appropriate that these documents be made available to the public so that people will be able to see exactly what Treasury is thinking. It is likely, or possible at least, that there may be some material in the documents that may in some way inform about the electricity sale. As we all know, if the Government has a genuine claim for commercial in confidence, under processes for the production of papers the Government will be able to claim privilege for truly commercially sensitive documents. There is no risk of having to produce the other projections. I commend the motion to the House.

Question—That the motion be agreed to—put and resolved in the affirmative.

Motion agreed to.