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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3791 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Mr Speaker, we did not get the answer to this question until yesterday, long after the Estimates Committee hearing. (Extension of time granted) What an example to set for the rest of the people in the ACT administration! We found that the chief executive discarded his $27,000 top-of-the-line Holden Calais vehicle after 13,000 kilometres and then the vehicle was handed over to another officer, who now drives that above-standard vehicle. So, Mr Speaker, because the chief executive wants a better vehicle, a different vehicle, a four-wheel-drive vehicle, which is not available, he is able to discard his $27,000 car - - -

Mr De Domenico: Four-cylinder, more energy-efficient.

MR BERRY: Mercedes makes four-cylinder cars, too, you know.

Mr De Domenico: Yes, but you would not let him have one of those.

MR BERRY: Apparently the public service commissioner would. Mr Speaker, the $27,000 car was discarded. It was above standard, but another officer was able to drive it, just because the chief executive officer of the department wanted a more expensive vehicle - a $34,810 car - and it was discarded at 13,000 kilometres. There is no precedent for this.

Mrs Carnell: Where is the recommendation?

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell interjects, "Where is the recommendation?". Mr Speaker, the point I am making is that this question was not answered until yesterday. Then we see a minute from the commissioner for public administration - and I will table this - where the application is made for this vehicle. It was said in the answer given by Mr De Domenico that the Holden Calais was purchased on 22 May 1995 and the Subaru was purchased on 1 May 1996. But in a document dated April 1996, which approved the purchase of the Subaru Liberty four-wheel-drive vehicle, it went on to say, "As you know, Mr Walker is currently making use of a non-standard departmental vehicle". The vehicle in question is a Subaru Liberty, a four-cylinder four-wheel-drive. So, he was making use of the vehicle before it was purchased. No, that could not be true. I think he must have had the vehicle. I think one of these documents is wrong. Which one is it?

Mr Speaker, we have a situation where a special deal was done, apparently, on the documentation, after the event. He likes Subaru four-cylinder four-wheel-drive vehicles. They are more expensive than a Calais. He can get them approved by a subordinate in the Public Service, at his whim. That is not the example I would be setting for people within the Public Service, and it is not the example - - -

Mrs Carnell: You mean four-cylinder cars?

Mr De Domenico: Four-cylinder cars that are more energy-efficient?

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