Page 198 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007

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In relation to the review that I have arranged, there are terms of reference. I do not know whether Dr Foskey has had those made available to her and I regret that I do not have them here with me but I am happy to table them and to have them provided to members. At this stage I cannot quite recall the exact details of those terms of reference, but they are certainly quite broad.

I expect that there will be a rigorous assessment of the extent to which decisions around social, environmental and governance arrangements or issues can be pursued through an investment strategy that essentially maintains the framework that I spoke of just now as being fundamentally important. In a more detailed response to Dr Foskey’s question it would be more appropriate for me to provide her with the terms of reference. I think she will see from those that they will satisfy the questions she has raised.

DR FOSKEY: I ask a supplementary question. How can I and other interested people have an input into the terms of reference—or has the horse already bolted—and, more substantially, into the review itself?

MR STANHOPE: In the context of the terms of reference, they have been set. I will provide those to Dr Foskey today. In the context of contributions, I am sure there will be no difficulty in Dr Foskey contributing fully through a submission to the review. Her views would be welcome.

ACTION bus service—schools

MRS BURKE: My question is to the Minister for the Territory and Municipal Services, Mr Hargreaves. Minister, school buses at the moment are incredibly overcrowded and provide an unsafe environment for students travelling to and from school. I, as well as Mrs Dunne and others, have received complaints of students having to ride in areas like the luggage rack area; other students being told they cannot board and having to find their own way home; and, worse still, children being left stranded because the bus left before the school bell rang. Minister, what is being done to stop the overcrowding and deal with many of these other issues in order to create a safer environment for students on buses and to provide a reliable service?

MR HARGREAVES: I think it is fair to say that this issue has been in the public arena for quite some number of weeks now—some across the chamber would say some months now. I have yet to receive a representation on the issue that I can recall from Mrs Burke. If I have missed one, I apologise for it. That, of course, contrasts with the claim that Mrs Dunne makes, of hundreds and hundreds. If it was so important and they received so many of those representations in Mrs Burke’s office, surely you would think that she would have either contacted my office or contacted ACTION. Nobody has told me that Mrs Burke has been jumping up and down being upset about it. I suggest that this is a figment of Mrs Burke’s imagination.

When we looked into the matter, we found not that long ago—I mentioned it in an answer earlier on—that there were problems with some of the private schools: Merici, St Clare’s, Daramalan and probably Grammar. Those problems are being addressed, as I indicated earlier and in an answer—


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