Page 2934 - Week 11 - Thursday, 22 October 1992
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On 17 June I received a minute from the secretary of the department. Mr Kaine quoted some part of it, but not the whole part, because it does not suit him. In this minute, two days later, what did the secretary advise me? I will table this afterwards. This is from the secretary, Eric Willmot, to me:
The initial maintenance (Cook $10,000, Lyons $1,000) is needed to repair broken windows, damaged taps and similar start-up measures. This and the maintenance back-log -
we keep getting that word that you do not want to emphasise, back-log -
... could be absorbed into the Department's general program, and completed on a relative priority basis. This would reduce the extra funds needed by $193,000.
That is the ballpark $200,000 figure. After I queried his first set of figures, the secretary came back to me and said, "Well, yes, Minister, this is how we may properly approach - - -
Mr De Domenico: That is exactly what he said, "Yes, Minister", because you asked him to take off $200,000.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!
Ms Follett: I take a point of order, Madam Speaker. This Minister is responding to a censure motion and I find it absolutely outrageous that I can hardly hear him over the rabble opposite.
Mr Kaine: If he is going to make jokes, we are going - - -
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please! I remind you of standing order 61, which requires that there be no interruptions. Please continue, Minister.
MR WOOD: The secretary, after facing up to the issues presented to him, came back with what was a more accurate figure. It is as simple as that. He did it two days later. Mr Kaine, in his speech, said that there was no communication between 15 June and 21 June, when the Chief Minister answered the question. Well, here it is.
Mr Kaine: No, I did not.
MR WOOD: Yes, you did. You said, and I am sure that the record will show this, that the Chief Minister, with the only advice she had about $890,000, made her statement on 21 June that could not be sustained; and that is not the case, because here, two days later, is the response from the secretary of the department. We were moving very quickly, as you can understand. There it was. I took these back to the Chief Minister. The figure was $597,000. There was still some further adjustment to these figures, but it was clear what the cost of reopening those schools was going to be. It was about the same cost as it used to be when they were running before. Why not?
Mr De Domenico made a great deal about certain other matters; but I am running short of time, so I will not - - -
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