Page 4046 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 16 Sept 2009
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MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Corbell has the floor.
MR CORBELL: carriage of the government’s interactions with Actew when it comes to the development of water security projects. That is why I am answering the question.
Mr Smyth: On the point of order, Mr Speaker: the question is about the administration of Actew. The Treasurer is responsible for the good administration of Actew under the administrative arrangements, unless the Chief Minister has changed it.
MR CORBELL: I think the fact is that the Chief Minister has appointed me as the relevant minister to ensure the implementation of water security projects, and the interaction with Actew is part of that. I am responsible for those matters. I am the minister that takes those matters to cabinet to seek cabinet agreement on those matters. That is why I am answering the question.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Corbell. There is no point of order. It sits with the government to determine who has responsibility for matters, and Mr Corbell has given a clear explanation.
MR CORBELL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Actew have outlined the range of factors that they believe were potential risk factors for the cost of this project. They outlined that in documentation that they provided at the time of their decision to proceed with the development of this project following the government’s agreement, and those risk factors indicated a range of issues that could lead to an escalation in costs. Mr Sullivan’s comments were an estimate in response to a question he was asked during an Assembly committee hearing. The full range of issues that were at play were outlined in detail by Actew in the documentation that they provided when they were developing their costings for this project. They also outlined the costs and the risk factors—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR CORBELL: Do you want an answer or not? You are just not interested in an answer. I am trying to genuinely answer the question and all we hear is this petty, negative sniping from an opposition that clearly are trying to have it both ways on a vital water security project for the ACT. They are happy to have a fight about it, but then they say, “We support the dam but we still want to have a political fight about it.” At the end of the day, this is just petty political point scoring from the Liberal Party. That is the issue.
Mr Seselja: Point of order, Mr Speaker.
MR CORBELL: I am trying to answer their question, Mr Speaker.
Mr Seselja: The point of order is on relevance, Mr Speaker. It is specifically about what happened between 18 May and 30 May that those estimates changed so significantly.
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