Page 1818 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 18 October 1989

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During the Estimates Committee hearing, your department provided me with an answer in relation to five Hustler mowers being bought from Albury. I asked you a question in relation to why they were being bought when contractors could supply them more cheaply. Your reply was that the saving to the Government by owning a Hustler mower and not paying a contractor was between $1,500 and $2,700 per annum. My question to you is: how is that figure calculated? I would like a detailed answer, including all overheads.

My answer to the question is: the Hustler mowers available for hire to City Parks Section range in price from $28.43 to $34.12 per hour. They are hired from least expensive to most expensive, depending upon how many are required each year. In most years the average cost of Hustlers hired is between $29.50 and $32 per hour. Hustlers owned by the ACT Parks and Conservation Service are charged to operational work at a rate of $7 per hour. This cost includes maintenance, parts, fuel and depreciation. Each machine is manned by a gardener, whose time is costed at $19.47 - - -

Mr Humphries: Personed by a gardener.

MRS GRASSBY: I am sorry; I mean a garden person, at $19.47 per hour. This cost includes overhead costs incurred by Parks and Conservation in employing the gardener. The total charge of owning and operating a government-owned machine is $26.47 per hour. Assuming that both types of machines operate for 500 hours per year, the savings for a government-owned machine are between $1,500 and $2,700 per year.

MULTIFUNCTION POLIS CONCEPT
Ministerial Statement and Papers

MR WHALAN (Minister for Industry, Employment and Education), by leave: I would like to raise in the Assembly today the multifunction polis concept, which is a major project in which the ACT Government is actively involved. It addresses precisely the issues which face the ACT in determining its future development and highlights those areas which constitute the ACT's major strengths.

The multifunction polis proposal was first put to the Australian Government by the Japanese Minister for International Trade and Industry in January 1987. It is a proposal for establishing an international centre in Australia where the impact of new technologies on future business opportunities and lifestyles could be explored and implemented.

The feasibility study into the MFP proposal began in late 1988 and will finish in early 1990. Its purpose is to


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