Page 4349 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 30 November 1994
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MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, we are going to go through a whole list of tests on about six different points that were written into those tender documents. I have explained the process to the Opposition. It does not seem to be satisfactory to them because they do not like processes. They do not want them. Let me go back to the Tuggeranong Town Centre issue. The Opposition did not want - - -
Mr De Domenico: No; go back to the three service station sites that I asked you about.
MR WOOD: The Opposition did not want - - -
Mrs Carnell: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Standing order 118 says that the answer to a question shall be concise and confined to the subject matter of the question. Madam Speaker, was that the subject matter of the question?
Mr Berry: There is another standing order that says that he will be heard in silence.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you, Mr Berry. I will listen to Mr Wood's answer and determine that, Mrs Carnell.
MR WOOD: The process established is that we will have an interdepartmental committee of officers competent in a wide range of areas, who will take those documents and assess them from today. They will establish the bona fides of those by a whole range of criteria.
Mr De Domenico: What are they?
MR WOOD: Madam Speaker, I am not going to go through them, list by list. I am happy to provide the Opposition with whatever detail is publicly available. At the end of the day, I will stand up and justify everything that has been done. There is a proper process. I know that the Opposition members do not like the process. They do not want to know the process. Yesterday Mrs Carnell was saying, "Stop any process". But I believe that it is a very proper way to go, and the officers examining those issues will do exactly that.
MR DE DOMENICO: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. I ask the Minister again: What tests will you apply to ensure that successful applicants remain competitive? Will you assure the Assembly that, if you are not 100 per cent satisfied that the applicant will act competitively for the duration of the lease, the lease will not be issued?
Mr Connolly: You do not like competitive petrol prices, do you?
MR WOOD: They do not like competition, full stop. One of the things that I will attend to - and I have no doubt that officers will attend to it - is some of the recent findings of the Trade Practices Commission, which is about to prosecute some of the major companies for some of their tactics. So, we will be attending very closely to that. You can be sure, Mr De Domenico, that the outcome will be one where every principle is scrupulously observed and that, if we have them, we will have the most competent, reliable service station providers we can get.
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