Page 1664 - Week 06 - Thursday, 13 August 1992
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Parking - Commonwealth Vehicles
MR WESTENDE: My question is addressed to the Minister for Urban Services. What arrangement exists between the ACT Government and the Commonwealth in respect of parking of privately plated Commonwealth vehicles in the midst of pay parking areas? Where reserved parking spaces exist, does the Commonwealth pay the ACT for those reserved spaces?
MR CONNOLLY: Commonwealth vehicles, privately plated or Z-plated, are Commonwealth vehicles and, as I understand it, it is lawful to park them in zones which are marked "Commonwealth Vehicles Only", just as it is possible for ACT Government plated vehicles to park there or, indeed, ACT privately plated vehicles such as those that are driven by members of the Assembly.
My understanding is that there is no direct payment to the ACT from the Commonwealth for the Comcar parking spaces that are scattered around the city. There are Comcar spaces scattered around Sydney and Melbourne, although not to the same extent. No special financial recompense is required there. Obviously, the number of Comcar spaces in Canberra throws back to the days when Canberra was totally run by the Commonwealth. They are rather harder to find these days, because there has not been any expansion of them. There is no specific payment from the Commonwealth, as I understand it.
Secondary Schools - Condom Vending Machines
MS ELLIS: My question is directed to the Minister for Education. I ask the Minister: What steps are you taking to determine whether condom vending machines should be placed in ACT secondary schools?
MR WOOD: No steps are being taken to place them in high schools. For secondary colleges, the matter is perhaps under consideration, although at a second stage. I advise members that earlier this year there were two paragraphs in a discussion paper on legal issues that should be considered in respect of HIV and AIDS - just two paragraphs. That sparked quite a deal of attention and I intend to respond to that discussion paper. I might mention that I never received a copy of it; I had to go searching for it. I do not know whether our administration has received it.
In order to respond, the department is putting into the hands of secondary college students a questionnaire very briefly outlining arguments and asking them to say yes or no to the question of condom vending machines in their colleges. At the same time, the department is posting to parents much the same sort of questionnaire - the wording is a little bit different - so that we have an accurate assessment of what parents think. There may be some other debate in the community to which we should attend. So I will use that information in responding to the discussion paper. In making any decision about schools, I could well be guided by that too.
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