Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I want to speak very briefly to this motion and I particularly want to support the amendment moved by Senator Sherry. We know that this is a fairly critical and emotional issue for many people. The Snowy hydro scheme is something that is held in Australian folklore as one of the most abiding symbols of nation building in Australia. It is part of our national psyche. I am sure that many people in the chamber can actually remember the ABC series last year about the whole development of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

This is an important decision that the federal government is making here and one that we on this side of politics have agreed to support. But we want to ensure that the social, economic and environmental issues around this decision are considered very carefully. If you look at the work that went into the Snowy hydro scheme—the 100,000 workers who toiled for 25 years, basically, to construct it all—you would see just how important this scheme is in terms of our national infrastructure. But the process of sale and the process of corporatisation of the Snowy hydro system are complete and, now, the idea of moving to privatisation is part of that process, and will enable good governance and greater transparency in all that is going on for the national power industry as well.

I want to carefully remind people of the argument that we hear so many times from the government and from others, but definitely from the government—that is, that you do not actually have to own something to regulate it. That is an argument that is put here consistently in debates about assets and enterprises, and it is an important argument to understand. The corporatisation of the Snowy hydro scheme means that it is a private company that is currently controlled by three governments. That is proving to be quite a complex management process that is, in effect, detrimental, I suppose, to the environmental concerns that have been raised in the chamber today.

We are concerned about the use of local specialised contractors. We are concerned about ensuring that local employment will increase. I know that there are concerns in the communities around the Snowy that there would be job losses. However, in moving the amendment which is in Senator Sherry’s name, we are conscious of the importance of maintaining local employment. It will provide some opportunities for maintaining and upgrading the program for the Snowy scheme’s equipment and infrastructure and will allow some investment in critical infrastructure, which will help the environmental situation and guarantee that the environmental commitments of the Snowy scheme are met.