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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2602 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Members may be wondering just what the year 2000 problem is, Mr Speaker. In a nutshell, it relates to the problems most computers will have in coping with the new millennium. For the most part, computers use a short cut when it comes to recording dates, using two digits instead of the four that you would normally use. For 1996, they use 96. The year 2000 will simply be recorded as double zero. Many computers and electronic control devices will record that year as the year 1900, not the year 2000; and this will potentially wreak absolute havoc, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Sort of Back to the Future.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, what it means is that databases simply will not know where to store information. It will throw databases right off immediately. It is not a simple problem to fix.

Ms Follett: What this is is an abuse of question time, Mr Speaker. This should be a ministerial statement.

MR SPEAKER: The Chief Minister is giving an answer to a question.

Ms Follett: What she is doing is abusing question time,.

MR SPEAKER: It is a detailed answer. It is an important answer.

Ms Follett: No, it is not; it is a ministerial statement.

MR SPEAKER: Continue, Chief Minister, and ignore the interjections.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am depressed about the other side of this house, quite seriously. Industry experts estimate that the cost will run into billions of dollars in Australia alone because it will require millions of lines of computer code to be checked and revised. The cost, the industry believe, is a dollar a line; and, as many people who know anything about computers would know, many applications have millions of lines of computer code involved. We are talking about a lot of money here. It has been estimated that by the end of 1996, just a few months away, there will be a shortage of people with the skills needed to fix this problem, which is why our agreement with Unisys is so significant.

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker - - -

MR SPEAKER: Is it a point of order, Mr Berry?

Mr Berry: Yes, Mr Speaker. There is a requirement in the standing orders to keep answers concise. I think you should lean on the Chief Minister and require her to keep her answer concise. The Chief Minister has the option open to her at any time to make a ministerial statement, and she ought not abuse question time by giving these long and drawn out answers which, of course, have been the subject of a media presentation before today. Mr Speaker, if there is to be an answer to a question, I hope that you would lean on the Chief Minister about the length of it.

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