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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2458 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The measures being announced today will see a minimum of 18 extra police on the beat by early 1998.

You cannot get any earlier in 1998 than 1 January. It does take a little while to do that because we are not simply taking police from one place to another. We have to backfill the police in the courts with those officers from Corrective Services who will do that job in their place. They have to be recruited, trained, properly equipped and given guidance by the police whose duties they are taking over. That is taking a little time, but it was always planned that it would take about six months. We are on track to do that. I think there is nothing to be concerned about.

MR OSBORNE: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Minister, will you admit that this whole issue has been designed to be nothing more than an election stunt prior to next February's election and that when the 13 police are put back on the beat you will use it in the lead-up to the next election?

MR HUMPHRIES: I know Mr Osborne would not even know what an election stunt was, so innocent is he of these devices that politicians use. He is not a politician; he is just an ordinary bloke who has landed in the Assembly. He would not know anything about stunts or things like that. I have to assure him that no, we conniving, experienced politicians do not do things like that.

MR WHITECROSS: My question is to the Chief Minister. On the last day of the Estimates Committee hearings earlier this year, the committee was told that the Government would be given advice regarding the future of the Bruce Stadium redevelopment proposal. Chief Minister, could you inform the house as to what progress has been made since then in regard to the Bruce Stadium redevelopment? Have contracts been let? If so, which ones? Is the work to begin soon? Who has so far signed up to actually use the stadium?

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, that is a reasonably detailed question, I have to say. Shall we work from the last bit towards the front, hopefully? Discussions are under way with all three codes. In at least one case an agreement has been signed, and the other two are very close to being signed. We hope to sign with SOCOG this week. It was going to be last week, but SOCOG are being a bit slow at the moment. Agreement has been reached with SOCOG. I hope that that will be signed this week. I did at one stage hope that it would be at least in the next few days, but obviously that is in the hands of SOCOG. But agreement has been reached.

With regard to the contracts that have or have not been let, I would have to take that on notice, because I do not have the information right at my fingertips and I cannot tell you which contracts have actually been let.

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