Page 2543 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 1994
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Mr Kaine: They could do what they did before and blackball all the committees.
MR CORNWELL: There is that possibility. The fact of the matter is that there is nothing in writing in this Select Committee on Estimates report on the Appropriation Bill 1994-95 which indicates that any member of the Labor Party dissented from what is in here. There is nothing in writing, and I suggest that you all stand condemned for that.
Ms Ellis spoke about respect and intelligence, and she suggested, I think, that she did not get it. Neither did I, and I suggest that the people of the community did not get it either. I would like, firstly, to refer to an exchange that is set out on page 38 of the Estimates Committee report in relation to the Housing Trust and the Office of Rental Bonds. There was an exchange between the Minister, Mr Lamont, and me. I read from paragraph 4.92, where Mr Lamont said that at the time I was offered a full briefing by his officers in relation to the transfer of the bond from the Office of Rental Bonds back to the trust without necessarily passing through other people. In relation to the success of that method to date, I questioned whether I had been advised. The matter was left there. I would like to record a letter of 22 August from Mr Lamont as Deputy Chief Minister, in which he states:
I have noted the contents of your media release of 14 July 1994, in particular, your statement you were not advised of this new system until the Estimates hearings in June 1994. Although I previously understood that you had been briefed, I apologise for this oversight.
I thank you, Mr Lamont, for advising me of this. I would hope, frankly, that this situation does not happen again. I am not blaming you; I am saying that I would hope that that would not happen again, because I do not regard that as a very satisfactory method of keeping your Opposition spokesman advised of these things and I do not think it does very much credit to the officers of your ACT Housing Trust.
I am also concerned about another matter. I mention this to the Minister because I would be interested to hear what he has to say later. At paragraph 4.95 of the report we refer to chasing vacated arrears. The Minister said:
... you have also got to understand that the information which is provided to Laurens -
the company that is collecting these arrears -
did not include information which could assist Laurens to trace the debt, ie, the forwarding address, dates of birth, as this information was not previously maintained by the Trust data base.
Mr Lamont: Yes, vacated arrears. People often do not tell you where they are going.
MR CORNWELL: Minister, you will have the opportunity to respond to this. I would suggest that this is a fairly serious situation. People apparently do not bother to keep adequate records. I would hope to get an assurance from you, Mr Lamont, that that has now been corrected and that we will be getting more accurate information.
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