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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 14 Hansard (10 December) . . Page.. 4619 ..

Works and Commercial Services - Corporatisation

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, my question, which is to Mr De Domenico, is about the transfer of Works and Commercial Services personnel to Totalcare. Minister, when will you report to the Assembly on the due diligence process? Will the changeover still go ahead on 1 January 1997? If it does go ahead, will you report to the Assembly before the end of the current sitting period?

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Speaker, I will report to the Assembly on the due diligence process when it is finished. If it is finished before the Assembly gets up, Mr Wood, I will certainly report back to the Assembly. But I will give you an undertaking that, once it is finished - the aim is to get the transfer across by January next year - I will let you in on all the details. So, the answer to your question is that when it is totally finished I will report back to the Assembly.

MR WOOD: I have a supplementary question, Mr Speaker. Last week, in question time, you confirmed that workers would transfer under the existing EBA. I thank you for that advice. I refer to your response in the recent Estimates Committee, when you said that all existing staff numbers would be maintained and there would be no involuntary redundancies. Does this remain the case?

MR DE DOMENICO: Yes.

Quamby Youth Centre

MS REILLY: My question, Mr Speaker, is to Mr Stefaniak, Minister for Youth Services. Minister, you announced that you were to erect an electric fence at the Quamby Youth Centre, and your statements suggested that you thought that was the best method to stop the number of escapes from Quamby. Can you inform the Assembly what the full cost of this fence will be and when it will start in operation?

MR STEFANIAK: I thank the member for the question. I am trying to find the actual total figure, which I did have here. I believe that it is in the vicinity of $80,000 all-up. I was driving past there a couple of weeks ago, and the fence seemed to be half up. I understand that it should soon be complete, or virtually complete, Ms Reilly. I certainly have asked Mr White, who is running that area, to advise me when the fence will be completed. I expect that to be imminent.

The actual cost is $85,000, I understand, Ms Reilly. I expect the upgrading of the perimeter fence to be completed shortly. I think it is the most sensible and humane way of addressing the very real problem we have had over the last couple of years, in terms of escapes.

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