weekly hansard - Queensland Parliament - Queensland Government

23 Aug 2005 Queensland Competition Authority Amendment Bill 2593
Secondly, the bill also provides for an additional monitoring and dispute resolution role for the
QCA. Currently providers of monopoly assets are able to introduce voluntary codes of practice with
regard to their pricing policies and allocation of resources. In order to ensure the credibility of the
voluntary codes of practice, the QCA will be given the capacity to act as an independent compliance
monitor and/or dispute resolution arbiter. Codes of practice can be used to tackle market power by
imposing behavioural constraints on a business rather than the QCA using the sledgehammer approach
of price regulation.
The third area of attention is the area of information sharing. The bill proposes amendments
which seek to improve information flow between the QCA and its departmental coregulators in the rail,
energy and water sectors. Under current arrangements the directors-general of the relevant
departments undertake some regulatory functions in concert with the QCA. At the moment the
information flow between the QCA and DGs is stymied by the need for it to gain the permission of the
regulated entity before passing on commercially confidential information.
These amendments will address that inefficiency and provide a better outcome for industry and
ultimately consumers. Overall, these amendments will improve the regulatory environment for some of
our state’s major strategic assets. I commend the bill to the House.
Mr JOHNSON (Gregory—NPA) (2.56 pm): I rise to speak in the debate on the Queensland
Competition Authority Amendment Bill 2005. This afternoon my colleague the member for Charters
Towers made reference to the issue of Queensland Rail jobs and the security of those jobs. I can see
that the honourable member for Charters Towers’s heart is in protecting railway jobs for Queensland
railway employees.
I say at the outset that I was the minister when, in conjunction with my then colleague the
honourable Treasurer and Deputy Premier of the day Joan Sheldon, we split the track of Queensland
Rail to allow third party access so we could obtain payments from the federal sphere and let our state
become a party to national competition. We now see operations like Freightcorp and Pacific National
coming into Queensland. Queensland Rail is using the New South Wales operations, especially down in
the Hunter Valley where it is hauling coal.
This brings me to the importance of having a long-term vision. Mr Speaker, as you are a former
minister for resources, mines and energy you would probably know more than most in this House about
the importance of having very good integration of road, rail and port facilities when it comes to coal.
Queensland Rail hauls something like 135 million tonnes of coal a year. This goes out of ports like
Gladstone, Hay Point, Dalrymple Bay and Abbot Point. For too long I believe that our vision has not
been right in relation to the missing link in the Bowen Basin.
That is one area that I believe we should look at. When we talk about national competition policy
we are talking about coal-mining operations, whether they be in the Bowen Basin, the southern basin or
wherever. The other argument I always put is that the missing link also provides a duplicated route to
the main coastal line. I think it is important to recognise that.
The first component of the bill amends the state’s third party access regime framework to ensure
the state’s competition framework is keeping pace with the multitude of contractual relationships utilised
by modern business. Nothing is more accurate and nothing is truer than that. When we see the
multinational coal conglomerates in Queensland bringing significant benefits to their shareholders and
to the economy of this state, it is absolutely paramount that governments work in a cohesive way with
those multinationals. We know the worth of the coal industry to Queensland, and we know what it is
going to be worth in many years to come, especially around the Collinsville area, the Bowen Basin and
the Surat Basin, where millions of tonnes of coal are still being explored and found. We are sitting on a
real wealth of coal resources that will be advantageous and beneficial to the growth and the economics
of this state for a long time to come.
That brings me back to Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay. With the vision and knowledge that the
departments have had in the past of that explosion in the coal industry, those loading facilities should
have been seen to in years gone by rather than looking at the problem now. I heard the member for
Warrego make reference this afternoon to the number of ships on the horizon. Someone very close to
me counted 60 one day—60. When one multiplies that by, say, $20,000 to $40,000 a day demurrage, it
adds up to a bit of chaff at the end of the year. I do not know how many coal-loading terminals we could
have built for that sort of money.
The real issue is competition. If we are going to have companies like Pacific National,
Freightcorp, Queensland Rail and whoever else entering into the marketplace in Queensland, we have
to ensure that we have in place a visionary infrastructure plan that will cater for the future growth and
future viability of not only the coal industry but also the electricity industry, the water industry and other
resources as the list goes on and on.
Procrastination today is death in government—death in anything at all. The old saying is that he
who hesitates is lost. It is very important that this legislation is passed in the parliament. At the same
time, we should recognise the needs of enhancing competition benefits to Queensland consumers. Our
exports are very competitive in the marketplace—whether it be coal or whatever. However, we need
sophisticated enterprises to enhance the opportunity of those companies to not only benefit their