Page 2280 - Week 08 - Friday, 21 June 1991
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Criminal Injuries Compensation
MR COLLAERY: My question is to the Attorney, Mr Connolly. I refer the Attorney to the award made on 15 April of this year by the Registrar of the Supreme Court of the sum of $40,000 to Mrs Gwen Winchester under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act. The first sum of $20,000 was in respect of serious emotional damage and mental shock, and the second sum of $20,000 was in respect of pecuniary loss. I ask the Attorney whether he is aware that the Commissioner for Commonwealth Employees' Compensation has claimed that the latter sum of $20,000 is to be repaid to the Commonwealth, it being money paid by the Territory? I ask the Attorney: In view of the fact that the registrar of the court accepted that Mrs Winchester had suffered a pecuniary loss of upwards of $475,000 stemming from her husband's premature death and had received $120,000 under a death benefit arrangement under the Commonwealth Employees' Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, will he most forcefully take up with the Commonwealth this inhumane and outrageous attempt to take money off this woman?
MR CONNOLLY: Mr Collaery asks an extremely detailed question in relation to an individual matter before the Supreme Court. I would say to Mr Collaery and to any other members that, if they wish a detailed answer from me in future in relation to a detailed issue, I would appreciate advance warning, in which case I could give a detailed answer on the spot. I obviously cannot do so at the moment. I will take Mr Collaery's question on notice and advise the house at its next sitting, or Mr Collaery at an appropriate time beforehand.
School Reopenings
MRS NOLAN: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister, in her capacity as Treasurer. Can the Chief Minister inform the house of the total cost of reopening Lyons and Cook primary schools? Will this money be found from within the education budget; if not, where will it come from? Can the Chief Minister inform the house what advice was received from Treasury before a decision was made to reopen the schools?
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, I thank Mrs Nolan for the question. I find it ironical in the extreme that this question should come from a member of the Liberal Party and a member of the former Alliance Government, when, in fact, we repeatedly, for about 18 months, questioned the then Minister for Education on the cost of closing Lyons and Cook schools and we never got an answer.
Mr Speaker, the nearest that we can work out is that the closure of the Lyons Primary School cost some $1.2m. I believe, therefore, that any reasonable person who looks at the cost of reopening those schools would regard it as very
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