Page 3291 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 18 September 1990
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include maintenance carried out on the ACT Sports House? I refer to page 12 of your document.
MR HUMPHRIES: I do not know the answer as to why - if this is the case and I assume it is from what it says here - this has been averaged over a period of only three years and not seven. I take it as read, for the time being, that Mr Moore is right in saying that it is usual to do this over a seven-year period rather than a three-year period but I am not going to enter into that debate. I will take that part of Mr Moore's question on notice and get back to him.
As to whether those maintenance figures also include the Sports House complex at Hackett, my understanding is that, in fact, none of the figures in these documents refer to costs that are associated with the tenants that share those sites with some of those schools. Any major maintenance would not be on the Sports House. I visited the Sports House in the company of Mr Stefaniak only a couple of weeks ago and was impressed by the layout of that place and the quality of the building. There seemed to be no reason why major maintenance would be required. However, it is my understanding that there is no question of - - -
Mr Wood: The same with the primary school; it is a good quality building.
MR HUMPHRIES: It is clear that there are problems with our schools, Mr Wood, and we have to look into the question whether we should be meeting the ongoing maintenance costs and putting education dollars into those costs, rather than into other more important things such as teachers and resources. This is my understanding of the situation, Mr Moore, but I will advise you of any inaccuracies in what I have said. They should be notified.
MR MOORE: I have a supplementary question. Mr Humphries, are you aware that Cook Primary School - it is listed a couple over - is almost the same design as Hackett Primary School and about the same age and its maintenance costs were about a third of those of Hackett Primary? Of course, what happens here is that we question the validity of the figures.
MR HUMPHRIES: I do very much doubt that Hackett and Cook Primaries are the same age, as Mr Moore assumes. I do not know that they would be. Obviously Hackett school would have been there some years before the Cook school was built. However, once again I will take that question on notice, if there is any issue to be appraised there or teased out, but I do not think that there is. It is obvious, I think, that there are wide variations in the maintenance costs of these buildings. It is very hard to predict why it is that one building will need more maintenance than another building. There have certainly been ongoing problems in our school system with respect to the design of buildings, and I have often wondered why it
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