Page 479 - Week 02 - Thursday, 22 February 1990
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committee which determines priorities for special removal - in effect, jumping the queue. Members of that committee include members from the asbestos support group, as well as departmental officers.
The situation is quite clear. In my announcement on Tuesday I raised the amount of refund or reimbursement available to victims of asbestos insulation in their homes from $35,000 to $40,000. I was also quite clear in my statement that the raising of that level was to apply from Tuesday only. It is my view, and that of my departmental officers, that persons who, for whatever reasons, chose to enter into private asbestos removal programs with private contractors prior to that date, knowing the state of play at the time and knowing that the amount of refund available was $35,000, did so in full knowledge of the facts.
In those circumstances, the brief answer to Mr Stevenson's question is no. I am not prepared to consider reviewing cases of people who entered into private contracts for removal of asbestos from their homes prior to Tuesday's announcement.
Executive Deputies
MRS GRASSBY: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. In reply to a question on 13 February concerning the cost of reallocating Executive Deputies on the executive floor of this building, you said that you could not provide a figure because the move was not yet completed. Before the move was endorsed by you, was there any estimate of the cost and, if so, what was the cost? If not, why was no estimate prepared?
MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, there were several proposals put forward for different ways in which the other members of the Government might be housed on the fifth floor. They all had costings attached to them. My recollection is that they ranged from about $10,000 to something of the order of $70,000 to $80,000. I believe that the option that I agreed upon was the lowest cost option, but lest I give Mrs Grassby a wrong answer to the question, I will take the question on notice and get the exact figure. I believe that the lowest cost option was adopted. Of course, we still do not have an actual cost because the move still has not been made.
MRS GRASSBY: I ask a supplementary question. Could you please also put on the table of the Assembly the floor plan which you endorsed and also the costs involved?
MR KAINE: I do not see much merit in putting floor plans on the table. The floor plan, I believe, is in the possession of the Speaker. If anybody wants to have a look at it, they are quite welcome to do so as far as I am concerned.
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