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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (8 April) . . Page.. 690 ..
Mr Whitecross: Because you were asked.
MR KAINE: I do not see any reason to involve myself in issues that are nothing to do with me. That a person was aggrieved at something - - -
Mr Whitecross: You are the Minister. It has nothing to do with you! You are just the Minister!
MR KAINE: I may be the Minister for everything, but I am not the Minister responsible for the dissatisfaction that an individual in this community has with a Federal Minister and that he has taken up with that Minister. He has not taken it up with me. To satisfy Mr Corbell, Mr Berry and the other chooks on the other side, I will throw them a couple of grains of wheat. The Chief Minister has discussed it with the Prime Minister. Does that help?
MR OSBORNE: My question is to the Chief Minister and Treasurer. Mrs Carnell, I have placed on notice several questions about the new security arrangements in the ACTAC Building, but since then several more concerns have been raised with my office. Firstly, is it true that the Fingerscan system was installed without consulting the building owner, the Commonwealth Bank superannuation fund? Has the Chief Minister's Department received complaints from Customs that the system is impeding its employees' access to their building? Is the true cost of buying and installing the system more like $70,000 than the $37,000 Mr Walker told the Canberra Times on 4 March?
MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, if there are questions on the notice paper, is this question in order?
MR SPEAKER: It is a different question; therefore, I will allow it.
MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, it would be outside my capacity to answer many of those questions, inasmuch as I do not run the ACTAC Building or the department in the ACTAC Building. What I do know is that the Fingerscan technology is run by a local company. When it was perceived that there was a need for a change in the security approach that was taken at the ACTAC Building, the cost of replacing the little plastic discs turned out to be absolutely prohibitive. My understanding is that it cost something in excess of $40 every time somebody lost one. On the basis that it is not very easy to lose your finger, the new approach, I understand, is significantly cheaper in the longer term. Most importantly, it is a local company that is looking at a significant overseas and export market for the ACT. It seemed a really good way, as it was put to me - - -
Mr Osborne: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I will just go through the questions again in case the Chief Minister did not quite pick them up.
MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, that is not a point of order.
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