Page 197 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007
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talked enough to the drivers themselves to work out which people are actually adversely affected and which people are not. They know. They know everything about their passengers on those feeder routes. We will be having dialogue with the bus drivers, and we would hope, as I said on the weekend, that an amended network will be available in October or thereabouts.
MR SPEAKER: I ask members to refer to other members by their proper title. Mr Hargreaves, you referred to Mrs Dunne as St Vicki. You may wish to withdraw that.
MR HARGREAVES: I absolutely withdraw any notion of sainthood conferred upon Mrs Dunne. Nothing could be further from the truth than to have sainthood conferred upon Mrs Dunne.
MRS DUNNE: It is a modest aspiration, Mr Speaker. I am not dead yet, thankfully. I have a supplementary question. How much did it cost to implement Network 06 and how much will it cost to implement the changes that you have announced so far?
MR HARGREAVES: I do not carry in my head the figure as to how much the change to Network 06 cost. I will have to go back and find out. I will get back to the member as soon as I can. However, it may take a little while. In terms of how much it will cost to implement change to Network 06, I am sorry, I had coffee this morning, not tea, and there were no tea leaves in the bottom of my coffee cup, so I had nothing to read.
Government investment policy
DR FOSKEY: Can the Chief Minister assure the Assembly that the advice of ethical investment experts will be incorporated into the review of government investment policy and that the review will consider investment in renewable energies and social housing?
MR STANHOPE: I acknowledge that Dr Foskey has a keen interest in this issue of ethical investments and I acknowledge the extent to which she has championed debate on this subject. I am sure all members are aware that, traditionally, the government has set the form of investment strategy for the management of the territory’s investments. Whilst we set that broad strategy the attitude we have taken and that all previous governments have taken is that the management of those investments is something that should best be left to the Treasury. I maintain that position and I will continue to maintain it. This is an area where political involvement, or direct political involvement, should be avoided.
However, I think the government has an obligation—I do not resile from that, but perhaps within some parameter—to seek to get the best financial outcomes for ACT taxpayers by deriving optimal returns on funds invested, which involves seeking to maximise the return on funds and seeking to ensure that individual investment decisions are taken at arm’s length by contracted expert investment managers. I think that is a broad picture of the position or the history of investments within the territory.
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