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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (16 February) . . Page.. 150 ..

Mr Wood: And planning procedures. I know all that.

MR HUMPHRIES: Okay, you know all that. I am saying to you that we cannot afford to subsidise endless numbers of tenants in publicly owned government spaces in the Territory, because there is not the money to do that. However, if there are suitable tenants capable of meeting the costs of running such a centre, I would be very happy to hear from Mr Wood or anybody else about that and to follow that through with a tenancy as quickly as we can organise it.

Ms Carnell: I ask that all further questions be placed on the notice paper, Mr Speaker.

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I have an answer to Mr Quinlan's question. I have been advised that the issue was raised and in fact resolved at the commencement of the school year. A service ensuring that children do not have to cross Kingsford Smith Drive has been in operation since. The matter was raised in the planning phase, and when this was drawn to ACTION's attention it was immediately fixed. However, if Mr Quinlan does have more information or is aware of any additional matters that affect the Melba High School, I would be delighted to work with him. This is part of the process that has been ongoing since we started to implement the new network. I take the opportunity to congratulate Guy Thurston and all the staff of ACTION, who have really got behind this and are working very hard to make sure that we deliver service to the general network, particularly to the schoolchildren.

MR HUMPHRIES: Last year Mr Hargreaves asked me two questions, one on 9 December and one on 10 December, about suicide attempts at the Belconnen Remand Centre. On 10 December I told the Assembly:

I am advised by the BRC that there have been no incidents of attempted suicide at the BRC since July.

Mr Speaker, I was advised last night by Corrective Services that an attempted suicide took place at the BRC on 3 August 1998 about which I had not, until last night, been briefed. That incident involved a prisoner classified at risk and under regular observation being found in a holding room with a piece of elastic cord, apparently taken from his boxer shorts, tied around his neck. The detainee was conscious and was examined by a medical officer, who reported that no injuries had been sustained and no medication was necessary. An oversight led to a failure to provide a briefing to me on the incident and an omission from material which I provided to the Assembly on 10 December, for which I apologise.

In relation to the other part of the question which I took on notice, about the number of indigenous detainees who were the subject of self-harm reports from 1 December 1998 to 10 December 1998, I am advised that the answer is that one prisoner identified as

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