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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2000 ..
MR MOORE (continuing):
made a number of allegations. Those allegations are patently false, not according to me but according to his colleagues, according to other surgeons, according to other senior doctors in the-
Mr Quinlan: Did you see Pryor on Sunday?
Mr Stanhope: The old rose-tinted glasses.
MR MOORE: Yes, Mr Stanhope and Mr Quinlan, there are many things I look at through rose-coloured glassed, because I have a very positive view of life and a positive view of the world. But the reality is that a number of issues raised by Dr Jeans we have already taken action on. I will explain that in my statement. I have not set out to do the same sorts of things that Dr Jeans has done and blacken the names of the hospital and other people. What I have done and what I will continue to do, whether in this chamber or outside, is to say very clearly that he made some allegations and that his colleagues, his peers, senior doctors, examined those allegations and said they are patently false.
MR RUGENDYKE: My question is to the Chief Minister, Ms Carnell. Chief Minister, in relation to the GMC 400 V8 car race over the June long weekend, I have received reports that the sound system failed for approximately one-third of the duration of the event. Could you please advise whether there were penalty provisions in the tender contract, which was awarded to a Brisbane company, Australian Concert Productions, and whether the government has paid or intends to pay this company for their services?
MS CARNELL: I did not know that the sound system had failed, Mr Speaker. When I was there, it was working, but I will certainly seek information on that issue.
MR RUGENDYKE: I ask a supplementary question. Could you, Chief Minister, also please explain to the Assembly why the initial tender document for the provision of sound at the GMC 400 asked for a system that would have to be connected for a distance of approximately eight kilometres, when the final product was spread over about a quarter of this distance and certainly could have been provided by any number of local businesses rather than the substandard service from interstate?
MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I do not think it is appropriate for any of us to suggest that the service that was provided was substandard before we have information along those lines. As members would be aware, it certainly was not the ACT government that let those contracts and it certainly was not me as minister responsible. I do not know who got the contract for the sound, but I am more than willing to find out or seek information on the basis upon which that particular company got that contract.
As we know, Mr Speaker, it is illegal, contrary to the Constitution as well as the Trade Practices Act, for any benefits to be given to local companies. We do have cross-border trade in this country under the Constitution, and the winner of the contract, regardless of where they come from, must be awarded the contract. We have an agreement, a policy, in the ACT that if a local company is equal with another company from interstate we give the contract to the local company. We do not have any other choice. If we did, we would be the losers, because it would mean that our companies in the ACT would be
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