Page 3623 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 October 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
MR SPEAKER: Order, order! I call Ms Follett.
MS FOLLETT: I gather from that that you all generally saw the program.
Mr Collaery: I did not; I was travelling.
MS FOLLETT: You were not in it either. I would like to ask Mr Kaine to inform the Assembly which particular Ministers his Government would do better without - which was a statement he made on the program - and why he is not taking steps to replace those Ministers.
MR KAINE: This is another cunning question because the question did not relate to Ministers; it related to members of the Assembly, and my response was couched in the same terms. I have no Ministers that I would like to dispose of - none whatsoever - as I have pointed out many times and as I pointed out to Mr Carleton, who chose not to use it. We have a very effective Government. We have four very effective members of the Executive, and there is not one of them that I would choose to operate without. They are all very effective and very efficient. They contribute to stable and competent government in the ACT.
School Closures - Inquiry
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I direct a question to the Minister for Education. Minister, is Mr Hudson being paid $10,000 for his inquiry into aspects of school closures? Is he required to provide resources other than himself in return for that payment?
MR HUMPHRIES: The answer to that question, Mr Speaker, is that I do not know at this stage, and I am happy to take this question on notice. I think I have indicated in the past that I estimated the costs of the inquiry to be in that order, but that was a very rough estimation on the first occasion that the Government announced its intention to proceed with such an inquiry. I suspect that the figure would be higher than that. It would be a figure dictated by the usual conventions applying to the taking on of consultants of that stature and conducting that kind of work. Other resources are to be provided, but I do not think from Mr Hudson's remuneration; they will be provided, I think, by direct payment from the Government. However, I am prepared to take that question on notice.
MR WOOD: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker - and, if necessary, Mr Humphries can put this on notice too. Did he expect at the time, and does he still expect, that Mr Hudson would be available full time for this five-week inquiry - and, mind you, we do not mind one bit if it drags on for a long time?
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .