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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 7 Hansard (2 July) . . Page.. 2218 ..


MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

But will that $400,000 be enough? As I understand it, generally speaking, this sort of program has to go not just from the time of kick-off of the contract to a certain defined time, as you would know, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker. You have been a constant traveller with me into all of these prisons. You have looked deeply into the minds of those experts and extracted from their souls the very essence of success when we come to prisons. That essence of success is to take it from conception right through to the time when the prisoners have been placed in their new digs and they are happy about the exercise. You would know that the Port Phillip experience blew up because they did not pay enough attention to the second phase, and we would need to have this program and project direction see that right through that continuum.

What I would like to know is where are you going to get some tin-pot show that is going to do it for $400,000, because they sure as hell aren't going to. If you think you are going to get it for $400,000 I might be a bidder myself, because I might be kicked out of here at the next election. However, it is my understanding that it is usually a percentage of the contract. Now, let me suggest to you that it is 10 per cent. If it is 10 per cent, at the moment it is $3.5m. By my numbers we are $3.1m short. So what are we going to do about that? I want an answer to that. Will we have another Bruce fiasco? Will we have to borrow $3m on 30 June, cough up and pay it back on 1 July? I would hope not.

Of course, the Government's position is predicated on the private sector wanting to do it. What chance do you think there is that the private sector is going to abandon this Government because of sloppy business practice, because as sure as hell that is what has happened so far? If in fact we only allow $400,000 for this particular project direction contract, I predict now that it will be insufficient in the first year.

I think we have the opportunity, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, in the life of this Government, to make an impact on the Australian justice system with this, and possibly even the world stage, because I do not know of any jurisdiction that has so few people with so many different classifications that it has to house. I have seen a couple in the Pacific islands, but they do not have quite the variety that we do. This is our opportunity, if we do it properly, to lead the world in small-scale multi-faceted prison services. This is a huge responsibility. I know that the Minister takes it very, very seriously and I applaud him for that. But, to use Mr Rugendyke's theme, there is a difference between a cock-up and a conspiracy. I would never accuse the Minister of a conspiracy in this case, I would not even dream of it, but I have to say that we run the very real risk of a cock-up if we do not do the consultant bit first and we do not allow enough money for the continuum of that contract over X number of years. It has to be divorced from the political arena. It has to be put in the hands of people who know what they are doing so that we do not end up fighting over the particulars and the minutia of it all and we get on and go.

That, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, as you well know, as a member of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, was the intention of recommendation No. 3 in our report. It was not a political statement. It was a statement saying, "Let us agree now that we must do it now and start the program". It is such a difficult exercise. We need to do it quickly for the Belconnen Remand Centre's sake, but we have to do it right. What we are saying in that recommendation is: "Get out there and get the project direction going". I have to underscore that point particularly heavily.


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