Page 4682 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Harcourt Hill Development
MRS CARNELL: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is directed to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. I refer the Minister to the now infamous Harcourt Hill joint venture, in which the ACT Government had to provide the Commonwealth Bank with an irrevocable unconditional guarantee of $25m before the bank would agree to finance the venture. Can the Minister confirm that Harcourt Hill is the only project currently being undertaken by the Government's joint venture partner, Cygnet Pty Ltd - a Sydney company - and its directors?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, I believe that that is the case. We have a number of joint ventures that represent a very good investment return to the ACT. To the best of my knowledge, Cygnet's only interest is in Harcourt Hill. I will check that they are not partners in some other joint venture - if it is the case, I will let Mrs Carnell know - but I think that is correct.
MRS CARNELL: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. The question was whether it was the only project - not the only joint venture project - anywhere in Australia that Cygnet was involved with. Is it not true, Minister, that the reason why the Government was forced to underwrite Cygnet Pty Ltd was that the company was unable to raise the capital or assets to satisfy the bank's concern about the risk?
MR WOOD: No. That is absolutely not right. I do not know whether Cygnet is involved in other ventures around Australia. I will ask some questions about that. The bank actually sought the guarantee - not for the reasons indicated by Mrs Carnell, but because, in its view, the ACT Government was in the unique position of being able to determine land supply and thus influence outcomes for the joint venture. The bank believed that this could be seen as a weighted risk against the financier. Further to that, the Harcourt Hill project differs significantly from other projects in the ACT in respect of the size and extent of the development. Mrs Carnell seems to be wanting to drum up an issue, once again, on entirely spurious grounds.
Educational Information Technology Grants
MS SZUTY: My question without notice is to the Minister for Education and Training, Mr Wood. Not long ago, I gave Mr Wood's office notice that I would be asking this question this afternoon. The question relates to recent calls for expressions of interest in projects in educational information technology. I understand that $60,000 was made available through a grants process to foster action oriented projects in educational information technology in the ACT public education system. Minister, according to what criteria were proposals assessed, and do you consider that $60,000 is an appropriate amount of funding to be made available to meet educational information technology needs in government schools?
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