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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1649 ..

MR STEFANIAK: Of course I am, Mr Wood; I can read opinion polls as well as anyone else. If you lot want to paint yourselves as the underdogs on 26 per cent, you can. I saw that poll which referred to 21 per cent. What you have to worry about, though, is Mr Who over there. That 38 per cent could be a little bit of a concern to you.

Mr Wood, I did not say we would not do anything; I have simply cautioned you in terms of exactly what this Government realistically can do every time the Commonwealth cuts some funding. I indicated that we always look at what we can do to counter that. What I have simply said, Mr Wood, is that we may not be in a position, and nor should we be expected to be, to compensate the same amount of dollars as might be lost as a result of the Commonwealth action.

MS HORODNY: My question is directed to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning, Mr Humphries. I must thank you, Mr Humphries, for finally providing yesterday answers to my Estimates Committee questions of three weeks ago about the capital works program and the Decade of Landcare. Unfortunately, your answers have just generated more questions. I have a question for you today about the project contained in the 1996-97 Decade of Landcare funding, which was $30,000 for Grevillea Park erosion control. Grevillea Park is not known as a place which suffers great soil erosion, but I note that this area was used for the FAI car rally last year and the ground was significantly damaged as a result of this rally. Could you tell me whether this $30,000 is being used to clean up the mess created by the car rally; how car rally rehabilitation fits into the objectives of the Decade of Landcare program; and why the rally organisers are not paying for this work?

MR HUMPHRIES: I do not know the answer to your question. I will have to take it on notice.

Ms McRae: Here we go again.

MR HUMPHRIES: You probably do not know where Grevillea Park is, for goodness sake. The Government administers literally thousands of grant programs. I personally am responsible for literally thousands of individual grants under grant programs. I am sorry; I cannot recall what the $30,000 spent at Grevillea Park is for. I will have to take that part of it on notice. I am also, on the basis of past experience, expecting a press release from Ms Horodny before that information comes in, saying, "The Government wastes money". If the past indication is anything to go by, Ms Horodny, it is most probably in Brazil by now; it has been salted away in Brazil, Switzerland or somewhere like that, if past practices, according to you, are any indication.

I will take the time to get the information, as requested. The reason you had less than as much speed as you would like in getting your answer to the Landcare question is that they were extremely complex issues. They were very complex issues, necessitating going back and having to re-sort information on a very complex and lengthy basis. I would like,

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