Page 12 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 1991
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South Curtin Primary School - Refurbishment
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, Mr Humphries might shortly be sorry once again that he does not check on the information provided to him. I direct a question to him - not in any great confidence about the answer, I have to say. Mr Humphries, can you tell the Assembly, which needs to know, and the community, which demands to know, what has been the full cost of the refurbishment of South Curtin Primary School thus far? Is it true that workers on the site received above award payments in the order of $5,000 each? What costs were incurred above the original estimates?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I have asked very similar questions today of my ministry.
Mr Wood: Only today?
MR HUMPHRIES: If Mr Wood would like to listen to the answer, he might be satisfied. I doubt it, but he might be satisfied. Obviously I am as concerned as Mr Wood apparently is to ensure that the costs imposed on this community by the schools reshaping exercise do not escalate or blow out, and as a result I have asked my ministry to advise me on what changes in the cost estimates put before the Estimates Committee last year, among others, have occurred as a result of developments in the last few weeks.
Obviously I have not as yet received advice from the ministry on that question. I am led to believe that there will be some blow-out of costs because of the action taken in respect of schools like South Curtin and Cook, and that would be quite to be expected, I would have thought. However, as soon as that information is available, I would be very happy to table it here in this place and satisfy Mr Wood.
Legal Precinct
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Speaker, my question is directed to the Chief Minister. What is the Government's position, Chief Minister, on the establishment of a legal precinct in the ACT? Does the Government support the Attorney-General's position of seeing this as a priority area for action, or does the Government support Mr Duby's position that apparently pandering to a relatively well-off sector is unwarranted and the legal profession and judges should "get stuffed" or hang themselves or various colourful phrases?
MR KAINE: I do not support either position, Mr Speaker; I have a position of my own. The fact is, though, that accommodation for the ACT court system has become inefficient in operation and difficult to manage. It is a legacy from the Commonwealth. One might ask why the Commonwealth has transferred the courts to us with such an asset problem. The problem is largely attributable to
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