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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 318 ..

MS CARNELL: Mr Corbell expects me to remember what informal discussions I had with people in 1996. Mr Speaker, I understand - - -

Mr Berry: You managed to remember what Trevor Kaine was doing?

MS CARNELL: Yes, I do remember who my Ministers were in 1997. That is not a big ask. I do understand from documents that I have had a look at today that Mr David Wright, who is an officer with NCA, indicated that he had an informal discussion with me at a Canberra Cosmos soccer game at which - - -

Mr Quinlan: "Fancy meeting you here", he said.

MS CARNELL: I see him at every soccer match, because he goes and I go. He said that at that game, which was when the futsal slab issue was on the table, he informed me that he would not be participating in that decision-making process because of his relationship in the past with futsal and with soccer generally. I do not remember that informal conversation at a soccer match, but I am confident that Mr Wright's recollections are real.

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, my question is to Mr Smyth. Minister, in a recent article in the Canberra Times, a claim was made that ACT Housing was likely to dispose of 1,000 houses in the current financial year. ACT Housing has announced plans to continue to dispose of property. How many housing units will it dispose of in this financial year?

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, this is a line of questioning that Mr Wood pursued at estimates. I think then we said that the plan was that the number of houses lost over the next three years would be something like 200, and that still stays. That is the business plan. That has not been changed. The line of questioning in the Canberra Times is quite curious. Suddenly, at a time of raised union activity in ACT Housing, the old fear and scare tactics are used and we are told that all these houses are going to go; that therefore all these jobs are going to go; and that therefore the Government is doing a lousy job. As was clearly pointed out to Mr Wood at estimates, the business plan says that the number of houses over the next three years will be reduced by 200.

MR HARGREAVES: The reason why I gestured so nicely to the crossbenches, Mr Humphries, is that I treat these people with respect. Mr Speaker, through you, I ask a question of the Minister for Health and Community Care. Over the past four years ACT taxpayers have paid for a range of consultants and financial experts to provide the Government with expert advice on the Canberra Hospital. Can the Minister say how many consultants' reports have been commissioned on Canberra Hospital over the past four years and how much the Government paid for them?

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