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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3727 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

The fact is that this Government did say that it was going to review the operation of that service on the basis that, because the service cost $42,000 a year, it was costing the ACT taxpayer a total of $334 for each phone call made to the scheme. I do not know about Ms Follett's administration, but I certainly do not regard a $334-a-call telephone service as being particularly good value for money, and I said - - -

Mr Berry: A cheap trick.

MR HUMPHRIES: "Cheap", says Mr Berry. I do not think it was cheap, Mr Berry. I think it was a particularly expensive service.

Mr Berry: It is a cheap trick. If he is going to represent me, he should represent me fairly. "A cheap trick", I said.

MR SPEAKER: Of course you can be misrepresented. If you are going to sit there and mumble and interject when somebody is speaking, it is quite possible that you will be misrepresented.

MR HUMPHRIES: I thank you for your protection, Mr Speaker. The fact is that $334 a phone call was simply not sustainable. We inherited it from the previous Follett Government. We said that we were not going to put up with that; that we were going to review the process and come up with a better scheme. Mr Speaker, I can confirm that we have done that. We have asked the Legal Aid Commission to seek tenders for the provision of the service. The commission and the chief executive of my department have now settled on a service provider. The previous service providers were Messrs Sutherland and Tiirikainen, Solicitors. The new service providers are Messrs Sutherland and Tiirikainen, Solicitors; but there is a difference. The previous service we inherited from the former Government cost the taxpayer $42,000 a year to run. This service will now cost $20,000 to run - the same people; half the cost.

We are also improving the service. Whereas previously the service was often unavailable when the mobile telephone was switched off, it is now going to have a call forwarding capacity so that there is never a chance for people not to be able to get in touch with the service. I think I should point out to those people who make the very simplistic assumption that less dollars equals less service - an accusation they often make against this Government, in fact very often - - -

Ms McRae: How very strange! What a strange assumption to make!

MR HUMPHRIES: You would never be guilty of making that assumption, would you, Ms McRae?

Ms McRae: Less dollars, less service - who would ever think of that?

MR HUMPHRIES: Who would ever think of that? Let her own words condemn her. Sometimes we can get better value for money. That is what this Government is aiming to do, and it has achieved that quite successfully in this case. Rather than being the subject of disgrace, it should be the subject of some congratulations that we have achieved that improvement in value for money for the people of the Territory.

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