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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (11 December) . . Page.. 4938 ..

MR SPEAKER: Please yourself.

Mr Kaine: Well, there were four interjections, one after another, just a minute ago.

MR SPEAKER: I know. This is the problem. I am asking, Mr Kaine, if they would mind spacing them so that the Chief Minister can answer them as they come up.

Mr Whitecross: Mr Speaker, as long as Mrs Carnell is answering the interjections, maybe she would like to tell us about unemployment going up.

MR SPEAKER: It is all right. She is doing a very good job, I think, at the moment. It is a comprehensive answer.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, it is also reflected in the private sector final consumption figures. We have now had three consecutive quarters of growth in the ACT, which means that the recession finished last year. So all of this year we have been back in growth. If those opposite want to use very selective statistics, I could go on for two hours now on retail figures, private sector consumption figures, motor vehicle registrations, house prices, housing funds.

Mr Corbell: What about the level of unemployment?

Mr Berry: What about jobs?

MRS CARNELL: And jobs, Mr Speaker; 6,400 more full-time jobs than was the case 12 months ago. Just at lunchtime today I launched or signed the documentation for a new company, EDS, who currently have 11 employees in Canberra. They will have 200 by the end of next year; and within five years, 700. That is getting off your hands and getting out there and doing it. Those opposite just whinge.

MRS LITTLEWOOD: Mr Speaker, my question is to the Chief Minister. I refer to the recent report of the Estimates Committee which raised concerns about the issue of commercial-in-confidence as it relates to contracts between government and the private sector. Could the Chief Minister explain why the Government has been willing to participate in a review of the principles of commercial-in-confidence?

MRS CARNELL: Thank you very much, Mrs Littlewood. I appreciate the question today because this is the last question time and this has been, and is, a very important issue. Mr Speaker, there is no doubt that all of us here in this Assembly, or most of us, strive for a government that is as open and as accountable as possible. So, after more than eight years of self-government - in fact, we are going into our tenth year, I suppose - it is timely that we reflect on how much information should be disclosed when private companies enter into contracts with public sector agencies.

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