Page 940 - Week 03 - Thursday, 14 March 1991
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Department of Urban Services Float
MR DUBY: Mr Speaker, yesterday Mr Moore asked a question pertaining to the Department of Urban Services float in the Canberra Festival Parade last Saturday. In particular, he asked me to clarify some points concerning the breakdown of costs involved in creating the float. He asked specifically:
... how many people helped to build it; how many hours did it actually take to build; was any overtime claimed for those hours ... and, if not, does that mean that it was built during standard Public Service working hours? If it was, what more pressing public problems were left unattended whilst this endeavour was taking place?
I have the answers to those questions here. The total cost of the Department of Urban Services float in the Canberra Festival Parade has been calculated at $6,276.48. I will list the individual costings shortly. However, it should be noted that a substantial amount of the materials used can be recycled for use in the future. The cost of the construction of the float, including materials and labour, was approximately $4,000; the materials for props and costumes cost $1,451.48; the sound system hire cost $400; and the preparation of the sound track cost $425.
Mr Speaker, 11 people were involved in building the basic structure of the float, all of whom were trade apprentices, except two tradespersons who assisted at times as required. A further 50 people from my department were actually involved in creating costumes and props. The float itself took about 200 hours to build in working hours, supplemented by about 100 hours of voluntary overtime by an additional 10 people. The work was done by apprentices employed by ACT Public Works as part of their training program. I think it is worthwhile pointing out that the float set a standard for the parade and, of course, was rewarded with a prize for being the best float in the parade. It set a standard for future years, one that other participants in the parade could model themselves upon.
The costumes and props took approximately another 500 hours to make, all done by staff in their own time, outside standard working hours - and I might say that they worked very late at night for most of the week before. Consequently there is no overtime involved; nor has any time in lieu been claimed by any of those staff. I would like to say publicly that I and other members of the Government appreciate the esprit de corps that was demonstrated by the workers in Urban Services, the apprentices particularly, and we congratulate them very much for their involvement in that parade.
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