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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2940 ..

Mr Berry: So, you are going to close something down and replace it?

MR DE DOMENICO: By interjection, Mr Berry said, "So, are you going to be closing something down?". The only thing that would close down everything in this town would be if Mr Berry ever became Leader of the Opposition and, in about 20 years' time, if he got to be Chief Minister. Mr Hird, as I said, another initiative that ACTION will be putting forward for public comment in a couple of weeks - you are right - is the introduction of an off-peak shoppers service from the very suburbs Mr Berry is talking about to the Kippax centre.

MR WOOD: My question is to Mr De Domenico in his capacity as Minister for Urban Services. Minister, with the transferring of staff from Works and Commercial Services to Totalcare, can you advise members what will become of assets presently used by Works and Commercial Services? By "assets" I mean property and structures, plant and equipment, special tools and technology and the like? Will Totalcare have to buy or lease these services from the Department of Urban Services?

MR DE DOMENICO: I thank Mr Wood for his question. The Government has agreed that an independent due diligence assessment will be undertaken to examine the assets and liabilities associated with the transfer of the functions. The due diligence assessment will determine the price that should be paid by Totalcare for the assets to be transferred after taking into account liabilities, including employee entitlements of superannuation, long service leave, et cetera. The assets to be transferred to Totalcare will include the Fyshwick depot, other works depots, plant, equipment, furniture, et cetera. The Totalcare bus fleet of around 40 buses will transfer to ACTION. The value of these assets will be taken into account as part of the due diligence process. The assessment of these assets and liabilities will need to be taken into account when determining a policy on future dividends to be paid by Totalcare. It should also be noted that Totalcare is fully owned by the Government. Corporatisation does not mean the loss of assets from government ownership.

MR WOOD: I ask a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Further to that, will Totalcare be given a capital injection to fund the future replacement of assets which are to be transferred and are part of the way through their commercial life?

MR DE DOMENICO: As I said, Mr Speaker, a due diligence assessment will be done. All those things that Mr Wood has mentioned could happen. I am not saying that they will happen. That will be assessed in due course with due diligence.

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