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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 2 Hansard (26 February) . . Page.. 469 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

I think those achievements in the very short time since the nursery was put onto a commercial basis are significant. I think they should be commended for it. All of that was achieved with the agreement of the unions and without any undue concern on the part of the employees involved.

MS HORODNY: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Mr Kaine, does this mean that the Government plans to maintain this nursery as a government operation, or are there plans to privatise the nursery in the future? What will happen to the community service obligation to provide the free plants?

MR KAINE: Mr Speaker, there are no further changes to the manner of operation and the management of this organisation proposed by the Government. We set out to achieve some substantial improvements in efficiency. Those were achieved. There is no intention to make further change there in any way, neither to the way it operates nor to what it does.

MS REILLY: My question is to the Minister for Sport and Recreation, Mr Stefaniak.

Mr Stefaniak: What page?

MS REILLY: Page 25 is where my question comes from. Do you want to turn to that now? In "Contracting Pool and Leisure Centres", Report No. 1 of the Auditor-General, he says:

Contracts for the management of leisure centres and pools have not been formally executed despite the hand over of operations.

Why is this the case?

MR STEFANIAK: Ms Reilly, on this point I am advising you that formal contracts as such were in place from the time the letters of acceptance were issued. You might like to ask the ACT Government Solicitor to give an opinion on that, because that is exactly what you will be told. The letters of acceptance, Ms Reilly, contain the words:

Until contract execution the request for tender, your offer, negotiating and clarifying correspondence between the dates of your offer and this letter and this letter of Acceptance shall evidence a contract.

I understand that is standard wording and leaves a contractor in no doubt that a formal contract exists from the date of the letter of acceptance. Ms Reilly, I think that indicates that formal contracts are in fact in place, and any lawyer can tell you that. It is just a matter of fact.

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