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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4326 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

That was one cost that I did mention and I do not see why it should be particularly sensitive that boom gate equipment is worth that much. The documents also talk about Lend Lease being responsible for lighting, cleaning and maintenance of equipment, paths, pavings, landscaping and traffic control devices. They say that the Government's share of the revenue would drop to 55 per cent to compensate for the increased cost of maintenance by the lessee and so on. Mr Speaker, there is also a question in here - - -

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. You have already ruled on the content of debate so far as it relates to the - - -

MR SPEAKER: Yes, I have, in fact. Mr Moore, I draw your attention to the fact that we are discussing whether something should be published.

MR MOORE: In order to explain to members why the papers should be published, Mr Speaker, I have to tell them roughly what is in them, so that they know whether or not they ought to be published. It is a perfectly rational and perfectly reasonable part of the debate for me to explain them. I have been particularly careful, Mr Speaker, as you would be aware, having been through them, not to deal with commercial-in-confidence - - -

MR SPEAKER: I would ask you to be very careful of that.

MR MOORE: Other than the one particular situation where I had asked a question in question time, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: I would ask you to be careful.

MR MOORE: Otherwise, I have been careful about that in so far as I have been able to compare the two. Mr Speaker, it seems to me that people who are interested in openness or interested in open government would be prepared to ensure that such papers were in the public domain. If they were in the public domain, people who are interested would then be able to get the full picture of how this style of development has occurred in the past. Mr Speaker, I think that members who look at these papers will ensure that they do go out into the public domain.

At the same time I am conscious that a number of members have not had the opportunity to read these papers. That being the case, should a member seek to adjourn this debate, I would understand that they may feel it necessary to do so in case there is something of such great moment and something so secret in the papers that they would want to refer to it. I do not believe there is anything of that nature in them. I think that we have a supersensitivity on the part of Lend Lease, not because of financial information that affects a commercial-in-confidence issue but because there is information there that exposes the way they operate and the way they seek to bring about change in an incremental way. I think that is the critical part of these papers. That is why we should publish them.

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