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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 311 ..

Mr Stanhope: Have you seen a draft?

MS CARNELL: No. He would not put anything in the capital works budget at all. We would pass the budget, and then the Allen report would come down. If it suggested that we should go ahead, we would have to say, "Oh, dear, no money. There is nothing we can do". Mr Speaker, if the Allen report does not suggest going ahead or comes down with some different way to go ahead, no problem. What did we do? We approached Mr Stefaniak's department and asked Mr Stefaniak what, if the pool was to go ahead - - -

Mr Stanhope: You were consulted, Bill? I cannot believe that, Bill.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Please continue, Chief Minister. I am listening, if nobody else is.

MS CARNELL: I understand their embarrassment. Mr Speaker, ask them what sort of money they believe we would be able to spend in the next financial year if the pool was to go ahead. What did we do? We planned. We planned appropriately, and in a way that obviously those opposite would not. They have now made it quite clear that their approach to budgeting would be to say, "We do not have the Allen report so we will not put any money into it". No wonder those opposite are not on this side of the house; that is all I can say.

MR STANHOPE: I ask a supplementary question. Given that the original promise on which the Government went to the last election, a promise which it promptly broke, was to build a $15m aquatic centre, will the Chief Minister confirm that the project has now been scaled down? What will the people of Belconnen get for the $8m allocation, subject to the outcome of the Allen so-called feasibility study? What parts of the original plan have been abandoned?

MS CARNELL: I just need the crystal ball. Is it here, Gary? Have we got it here somewhere? We must have a crystal ball because - - -

Mr Stanhope: You knew enough to take $7m out of it. You know something.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MS CARNELL: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. We do not have a crystal ball here, which is a bit of a pity because it is the only way you could answer this question. We still do not have the Allen report. Therefore, it is very hard to work out exactly what the pool will look like.

Mr Stanhope: It will have water in it.

MR SPEAKER: Order! What did you all have for lunch? It was quite pleasant this morning, and now we seem to have a lot of fuss going on. There will be a record here in a minute.

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