Page 4 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 22 February 1994
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MR CONNOLLY: So there is a slight contradiction. Mrs Carnell says, "Yes, he was at the picket line".
Mrs Carnell: So was I.
MR CONNOLLY: There is a slight contradiction. The cameras missed you, Mrs Carnell. Something went seriously wrong there.
Mr Cornwell: I was overseas. How could I be at the picket line?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, obviously it was an attempt to play a bit of politics. The frivolity of the other side aside, it is clearly a serious matter. It is an important facility. It involves substantial sums of government money. There is a 10-year lease on that facility to Ainslie Village Ltd; a lease that was signed during the period of the Alliance Government, but one which is appropriate. It is appropriate that a community based company runs such a facility. But the adverse findings of the Kelly inquiry demand that each and every one of those reforms be implemented. There were findings in this report quite adverse to people at Ainslie Village. In particular there was this finding, and I quote from Mr Justice Kelly:
But Mr Enright's role as Chairperson has become inextricably mixed with his role as consultant. We have difficulty in seeing how Mr Enright can continue as a member of the Board of Directors for any period longer than that expiring on the date of the next Annual General Meeting of the company.
Madam Speaker, a finding like that against a public office-holder, against me as a Minister or any of my colleagues as a Minister, would have obvious and immediate consequences. There seems to have been, Madam Speaker, no intention from Ainslie Village to act on the recommendations. I am disappointed that, as we have increased the urgency for Ainslie Village to implement those recommendations, we are now getting letters back from Ainslie Village saying, "We are going to lawyers. We are challenging this. We are challenging that". We have indicated that their SAAP funding will be withdrawn if they do not implement each and every one of these recommendations. I am disappointed that the immediate response from Ainslie Village Ltd has been to say, "We are going to try to legally challenge that". Well, good luck to them, but we are on firm ground. I indicate to the Assembly that we have discussed with the Commonwealth the very serious nature of such a funding withdrawal. The Commonwealth is fully in agreement with our actions to protect public moneys of this Territory invested on the site, and, most importantly, the interests of the residents.
I am deeply disturbed, as I think members would be, at reports that we are now getting in relation to attempts by Ainslie Village Ltd to commercially sell accommodation to students and to backpackers in the refurbished, high-quality accommodation blocks - blocks built by decisions of this Labor Government and by decisions of Mr Kaine's Liberal Government. Certainly when we allocated that money, and I am sure when Mr Kaine allocated money, we intended that it go to people in housing crisis, people who fit the SAAP guidelines, and that it not be used for backpacker accommodation. It disturbs me that that does not appear to be occurring. It disturbs me that we are hearing allegations from the residents
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