Page 2656 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 1993
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They estimated $150 per house to fit a mains wired, interconnected unit with a battery backup. They went on to say that the total cost to install alarms in all dwellings would be about $4m, with an annual servicing cost estimated at $400,000. Frankly, this is a nonsense response. It is simply not necessary to spend $150 to fit a mains wired, interconnected unit with battery backup. A simple $12 smoke detector, which is battery operated, can do the job, as it is doing the job in private residences and, possibly, public houses where the householder can purchase the item. You can buy these in any supermarket in Canberra. In fact, at one supermarket a few weeks ago they were reduced from $12.95 to $10. It is a very simple, effective - - -
Mr Wood: Have you one in your house?
MR CORNWELL: I have indeed, Mr Wood.
Mr Humphries: And it goes off all the time.
MR CORNWELL: Yes; I generate so much heat. It is strange, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, that only last night on television the Minister questioned the use of the $12 smoke detectors in government properties, when he has been most actively involved in their promotion. I refer to the Community Times of 8 July this year. I quote:
When Mary Stinson decided to buy a smoke detector for her Flynn home, she certainly did not expect personal installation by ACT Attorney-General, Terry Connolly.
Mr De Domenico: So he installed it?
MR CORNWELL: Indeed. A Fire Brigade spokesman said:
We are running in-store promotions with Target, K-Mart and Big W ... Usually smoke detectors are installed by screwing them to the ceiling, but our officers put them up with velcro to make it much easier when it comes time to change the batteries.
It is obvious that the very smoke detector that the Minister installed for Mary Stinson of Flynn is the $12 smoke detector that I am speaking of; yet this is the one that the Minister - - -
Mr De Domenico: Not the $150 wired one.
MR CORNWELL: Yes, indeed.
Mrs Carnell: And the Fire Brigade.
MR CORNWELL: The Fire Brigade supports it too. It is not the $150 mains wired, interconnected unit with battery backup that the department tells me is presumably the only possible smoke detector that can be fitted into ACT Housing Trust properties. Not only is it not necessary to pay more than $12 for a simple fire detector; it is also not necessary to pay the $150 because, subsequent to the publicity that emanated from my comments yesterday, Doyle's Electrical Services of Duggan Street in Calwell, Tuggeranong, sent me a fax saying, "We are happy to fit an AC model, 240 volt with battery backup for $100".
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