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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 3 Hansard (5 March) . . Page.. 547 ..
MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):
Minister, on 5 February on 2CC radio, you said:
This government will inject as additional $27 million into education over the next one to two years.
I hope you appreciate, Minister, that there is quite a difference between those two statements.
Would you concede that, in light of the Treasurer's concerns about a possible deficit in this time, there is no possibility whatsoever of bringing forward an extra $27 million spending in two years, much less in one? Have you the courage to admit that your comment on 2CC radio was a stuff-up from which you have been retreating ever since?
MR SPEAKER: Mr Corbell, you need not answer the epithet.
MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, the quotation that the Leader of the Opposition reads from the Hansard is a correct representation of what I said in this place, and it is the approach the government will be adopting on the issue.
MR HUMPHRIES: In light of that statement, will you concede that you misled the listeners of 2CC on 5 February when you said, "This government will inject an additional $27 million into education over the next one to two years"?
MR CORBELL: No.
Gungahlin Drive extension
MRS CROSS: My question is to Mr Corbell and is in regard to the Gungahlin Drive extension and the government's proposed western alignment. The head of the Australian Sports Commission, Mark Peters, spoke out publicly in Senate estimates and to the media last week against Labor's proposed western alignment for Gungahlin Drive. He said that the western alignment would be a "disaster" for the Australian Institute of Sport as it would affect their future operations and the performance of elite athletes. He further believed that any option along the government's preferred route other than a tunnel would be inappropriate for the AIS.
In your surprise response to Mr Peters you are quoted as saying:
It is an issue I am sure we can negotiate and reach a reasonable accommodation over.
You also said you were to have these negotiations with AIS officials last week. Minister, have you met with either Mr Peters or the AIS since you gave this public assurance? If so, what reasonable accommodation have you offered them?
MR CORBELL
: I met with representatives of the Australian Sports Commission and the Australian Institute of Sport, including Mr Peters, last Thursday. We had very detailed discussion, including an inspection of a number of areas of the AIS campus, to discuss the AIS and the commission's concerns about the government's western
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