Page 2385 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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MR SPEAKER: I do not believe that that is a valid point of order, Mr Humphries.
MR BERRY: I am coming to that, Mr Speaker. It is important that it is well known that Labor was committed to examine what was salvageable in the hospital system after the former Minister had had a go at it. In short, I will be making a ministerial statement on it shortly.
Ainslie Transfer Station
MR DUBY: Mr Speaker, I refer my simple question to the Chief Minister, Ms Follett. Does the Government intend to reopen the Ainslie Transfer Station?
MS FOLLETT: The simple answer, Mr Speaker, is yes.
MR DUBY: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Given the Treasurer's acknowledgment of the Government's requirement to find additional savings, in excess of some $15m, I believe, and given the fact that reopening the Ainslie station will involve capital funds well in excess of many hundreds of thousands of dollars, plus a recurrent expenditure of in the order of $300,000 to $400,000 per annum, how can the Chief Minister justify this blatant waste of expenditure, given that this transfer station has been closed now for almost two years, that there is no public outcry for its opening and that in terms of recycling needs it is simply not required?
MS FOLLETT: I thank Mr Duby for the question. I am sorry to say that he misunderstood this issue from the start, from the moment when he was persuaded to close the Ainslie Transfer Station. To answer his implications about the budget, Mr Speaker, we will be looking for the most cost-effective way of achieving the reopening of the Ainslie Transfer Station, and we will be looking at that in the budget context.
Mr Duby has asked me to justify that decision. I think that, because he asked for that, he must be deaf to the community who were denied access to the Ainslie Transfer Station when he closed it overnight, with no consultation and no justification. He closed it just because it seemed a good idea at the time to a government that was closing schools and hospitals, and trying to close health centres and so on. It closed the tip as well. It was about as sensible as that.
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind, Mr Speaker, that the community in the North Canberra area needs that facility. It needs it for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that it is an ageing community in that area. They have made good use of the Ainslie Transfer Station over the years and, because it is convenient for them and easy to use, wish to make continued use of it. If Mr Duby
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