Page 2790 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
Ainslie Transfer Station
MR DUBY: My question is directed to the Chief Minister and refers to answers she gave last week about the Ainslie Transfer Station. Last week the Chief Minister unequivocally stated that the Ainslie Transfer Station would definitely reopen, but at the same time she admitted that she did not know what that would cost in either capital or recurrent terms. I was wondering whether she has bothered to find out the simple answer to that question. Can she now advise the cost, in both capital and recurrent terms, of the reopening of the Ainslie Transfer Station? Given that her decision, and it is her decision only, I believe, is contrary to advice offered by both development departmental officers and - - -
Mr Wood: I am all for it, Mr Duby.
MR DUBY: I am not suggesting that there is any break in the ranks; but we all know that it is contrary to advice offered by the relevant departmental officers and, accordingly, I would assume, the advice offered by her relevant Ministers. Will she undertake a review of the matter along the sensible lines taken by the Deputy Chief Minister in his review of the situation regarding the Royal Canberra Hospital? In other words, will she have an independent analysis undertaken of the cost-benefit of that decision, given the parlous financial state we find ourselves in?
MS FOLLETT: Mr Duby keeps asking me the same question, Mr Speaker, and - - -
Mr Duby: I am just waiting for the answer.
MS FOLLETT: He is obviously feeling terrible about closing the Ainslie Transfer Station, and so he should. It was about the only action he took as a Minister and it was a disaster.
MR SPEAKER: What about the weir?
MS FOLLETT: Mr Speaker, I thank you for reminding me that he also closed the weir at Casuarina Sands. I have previously told members that the Government will be looking for a cost-effective solution to our commitment to reopen the Ainslie Transfer Station, and so we will. Members are going to have to wait, in fact, until budget time to find out what that solution is; but I can assure Mr Duby that we will not be spending a cent more than is needed to reopen the Ainslie Transfer Station.
Mr Duby has asked me whether I will be commissioning a review of some kind, as was done for the Royal Canberra Hospital decision announced yesterday by Mr Berry. The answer is no, I will not. What we are talking about with the Ainslie Transfer Station is an entirely different order of costs. With the hospital we are talking of hundreds of
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .