Page 3723 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 17 October 1990
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
School Closures - Hackett Primary School
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, my question is to Mr Kaine as Minister for planning. Mr Kaine, are you aware that your own planners in the Interim Territory Planning Authority have recommended against the closure of Hackett Primary School on safety grounds?
MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, I am aware that when the Government was considering the future of some schools there were some comments from the Interim Territory Planning Authority in connection with those sites. I cannot recall exactly what those comments were in connection with Hackett school, but I can assure the Leader of the Opposition and members of the Opposition that, whatever they were, they were properly taken into account by the Government in arriving at its decisions and that factor, as with all other factors in connection with the school closures program, was properly considered.
Building and Construction Industry
MR CONNOLLY: My question is also directed to the Chief Minister. I refer the Chief Minister to concerns raised in the construction industry over the damage being caused to that industry. This includes reports of, perhaps, 1,000 job losses being caused by the continued speculation over the possibility of the extension of the New South Wales royal commission into the building industry to this Territory. Can the Chief Minister give the Assembly a timetable for the Government to make a firm decision on these matters?
MR KAINE: First of all, Mr Speaker, I think I have to deal with the basic assumption behind Mr Connolly's question, which is that there is some difficulty associated with the local building and construction industry because of what is happening in New South Wales. I do not believe there is any substance to those statements at all.
Surprisingly enough, Mr Speaker, I talk to a great number of people over any given week - many of them involved with the construction industry; many of them trade unionists - and I do not get the sense that Mr Connolly and the Leader of the Opposition are attempting to convey in the loaded question that Mr Connolly asked. The simple fact is that the substance and the basis of his question cannot be substantiated. There is no validity to it whatsoever.
In terms of whether or not that inquiry will be extended into the ACT, I do not think that there is any change in the situation. It has been stated quite clearly on many occasions both by me and by the Attorney-General that there
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