Page 2931 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 October 1992
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The initial briefing, as I understand it, mentioned the figure of $888,000. Mr Wood said:
There are also additional costs above those included in the initial briefing. These include a back-log of maintenance which would now be required if the buildings are reopened and provision of financial capacity to the schools to allow them to reprovision ...
So, Mr Wood, you believed that that $888,000 was perhaps even a bit low because of these additional costs that may have had to be expended in the future. That was not good enough for you because you had to come up with a figure of about $500,000.
When I asked the question this afternoon, Madam Speaker, about whether he had told or had asked Dr Willmot to come back to him with a figure of around about $500,000, I did not get a direct answer. When I asked him a further question, "Did Dr Willmot refuse to come up with a document which he believed to be a false document", I still did not get an answer, because, of course, politics never comes into the minds of these people opposite; they never think about political things to do! What rubbish! What humbug! The situation, Madam Speaker, is this: The promise was made to the community, in this Assembly and publicly, that it was not going to cost this Government any more than $600,000 to reopen two schools. Conveniently, around about the same amount of money happened to be pulled out of the private sector school budget.
The other point to make is that both Ministers said that no money would be taken away from the education budget, per se, to do with the reopening of these two schools, yet $200,000 worth of maintenance costs suddenly appeared.
Mr Connolly: The money has never been spent. It is non-existent.
Mr Humphries: It is going to be spent and it is related to the opening of the schools.
MR DE DOMENICO: It is going to be spent. Mr Connolly said that it has never been spent. What if the boiler breaks down tomorrow?
Mr Lamont: In 2093 we will spend the money.
MR DE DOMENICO: There is the interjection from the document kid, the man who has been censured by this Assembly. He wants us to give him credibility.
Mr Lamont: No wonder you did not remain treasurer very long.
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, can you protect me from the censure kid over there, please?
MADAM SPEAKER: I was getting there, Mr De Domenico.
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, let us get on the record what this debate is all about. This censure motion is all about a government which promised one thing to the community and to this Assembly, but which received advice from the people who gave them advice that it was not going to come in within its budget.
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