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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3369 ..

Mr Berry: Oops! Minister, you may have misled the Assembly.

MRS CARNELL: No, I have not. It is fine. The reality is that, quite seriously, the managing director of Unisys said on camera that he believed that this sort of estimate was conservative and could be achieved.

MR WHITECROSS: I ask a supplementary question. Mrs Carnell, if in fact Unisys did the estimate, why did you in a joint press release say that the Government had made the estimate? Can you also confirm that applicants wishing to take advantage of this opportunity with Unisys would need to pay for their own training, at a cost of up to $600 a day, with no guarantee of a job?

MRS CARNELL: We also have made it very clear, including in this place, that yes, people will be required to pay for the UP courses. Most vocational training at CIT is on a fee-for-service basis. The reality is that these are real jobs. Those opposite can scoff. The reality is that a major bank has recently indicated that they believe that the year 2000 problem will cost them some $70m to fix. That $70m is predominantly in wages.

MR SPEAKER: Which bank?

MRS CARNELL: Not which bank, the other big one. Mr Speaker, the predominance of the - - -

Mr Whitecross: How many of those jobs will be in Canberra?

MRS CARNELL: How many of those jobs will be in Canberra? That is really interesting. Part of the Unisys People agreement is that, hopefully, CIT will be the accredited trainer of all of the people who will be part of this approach. If CIT is the first tertiary institute to start running these courses, it means that our people are in there with the inside running. It means that as many of those jobs as possible will be here in Canberra. I think that is exciting. I think it is really unfortunate that those opposite, and Mr Moore as well, think that jobs are not important to this city and that government should not be at the forefront of creating jobs. The fact is that we will stay at the forefront.

Mr Whitecross: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: The issue is not that we do not think jobs are good. We just think it is bad that Mrs Carnell exaggerates.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order. Resume your seat.

Mr Whitecross: Mr Speaker, I seek leave to table the media release, which says that Mrs Carnell says that the Government estimates 1,000 jobs, not Unisys.

Leave granted.

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