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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (26 February) . . Page.. 461 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Finally, in relation to Ms Tucker's question in relation to this, I would point out that it is a shelter under the provisions of the Children's Services Act. The program is obliged to accept emergency referrals from authorised persons in accordance with section 73 of the Act. The program also accepts referrals from Family Services for three particular categories, including young offenders and kids on bail.

Ms Tucker: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: This is another statement. I already know about Marlow Cottage. I asked a specific question; I would like the Minister to answer it.

MR STEFANIAK: I have given you an answer, Ms Tucker. You asked me about that specific matter. I have given you a further update on what has been reported to me in the last couple of days. I will also just say that there will be times, with institutions like that, because of the difficult nature of the problems some of the kids have, when there will always be problems. I think I told you yesterday, Ms Tucker, that there were problems when it was run by the Government. I can recall a number of allegations being made of kids running wild and rampant there on various occasions. One thing we can bear in mind, Ms Tucker, is that the program at least is a lot fuller for those kids. If there are any problems in relation to how it is being run from time to time, it is for the department and, indeed, the Government to do the best it can to sort that out, which is something that we do.

MS TUCKER: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Does the Minister acknowledge that he misled the Assembly yesterday when he referred to only one report and not to more recent communication between the Official Visitor and himself?

MR STEFANIAK: I hardly think that is misleading the Assembly. What a lot of nonsense, Mr Speaker!

MS McRAE: My question is to the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Mr Stefaniak. Minister, on page 21 of "Contracting Pool and Leisure Centres", Report No. 1 of the Auditor-General, he says:

... the way by which the Education/Erindale College proposal was assessed the approach was deficient as the proposal was not assessed on an arm's length basis against the private sector proposals. Without an arm's length comparison, the relative strengths and weaknesses of proposals are often not fully tested. Instead,

the initial proposal (which probably could have been treated as a non-conforming bid) was not fully assessed by the Tender Assessment Panel;

the Department of Education was provided with information on the amount of savings available from the best external tenderers prior to completing its final proposal;

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