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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (21 November) . . Page.. 3994 ..

MR OSBORNE (continuing):

and get all the Unions to stop pushing the proposed Training Levy. At no stage have I visited nor spoken to the Chief Minister about the Long Service Leave $300,000 to the MBA nor have I ever visited Mr De Domenico's office.

Perhaps there has been a little misunderstanding there. I am certainly not implying that the Chief Minister has misled the Assembly, but perhaps she can clarify that for me.

The second issue is in relation to Mrs Carnell's statement on that day. It is mainly to do with one of the issues Mr Berry raised about the MBA training fund's $300,000 deficit - an area of grave concern to me. One of the big issues for me is whether this money we are proposing to provide is just going to prop up that deficit. Mrs Carnell said, and I quote from Hansard:

There is no money, not one dollar, going to the MBA training fund. Mr Berry is just wrong again. The MBA training fund will not receive one dollar from government.

I received a letter from Mr De Domenico yesterday in which he said:

I can confirm that to date $75,000 has been allocated, following a request for funding from the MBA Group Training ...

Whom do I believe, Mr Speaker? I am not quite sure. I am a little confused. I look forward to hearing from either Mr De Domenico or Mrs Carnell about where the money went to, who received it. This is what I have in front of me in black and white.

A number of issues are of great concern to me. The first is where this money is going. Is it going to prop up the MBA, who are faced with a potential deficit of $308,000, which coincidentally is exactly the amount the Government is seeking to take from the long service leave fund? I had a meeting with Mr De Domenico's senior adviser and raised with him some issues of concern. Mr De Domenico has given me a typed letter, which he has signed, and I will briefly go through the important points. It states:

At a meeting with my Senior Adviser today, you raised a number of concerns ...

He goes on to say:

Firstly, you sought clarification in relation to monies already allocated from the Long Service Leave Fund to MBA Group Training Inc ACT for the on-site skills centre. I can confirm that to date $75,000 has been allocated, following a request for funding from the MBA Group Training, and in line with a recommendation from the Industry Training Council. The level of funding was allocated on the basis of available funds and taking into account other requests for funding before me at the time.

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