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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 5 Hansard (6 May) . . Page.. 1507 ..

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, at least you would have to say for Mr Quinlan, unlike Mr Stanhope, that he actually can work out a new supplementary question on his feet, although it is a very similar one. Why did we not put the $200m in on top of the $300m? Because, as we explained at, I think, last year's estimates - obviously Mr Quinlan does have a tiny bit of a problem with long-term memory - one of the major places that we were getting the money from to go into the superannuation provision account was from the sale of the streetlights. Mr Speaker, those opposite opposed the sale of the streetlights. You just cannot have your cake and eat it too. You opposed the streetlights sale - shock, horror, the nasty Government should not do this! - and we did not do it, so we cannot put the cash into the superannuation provision account, which is exactly what we said we were going to do with the money and they then opposed that, Mr Speaker.

Mr Humphries: It's incredible.

MS CARNELL: It is incredible. You simply cannot have it that we do not have the money from the sale of the streetlights but we still somehow have the cash to go into the SPU. Mr Quinlan was out there opposing the streetlights sale with all of his being. The inevitable outcome of that has been that the money is not there for the superannuation provision account, and he says, "Shock, horror, it is not there". Mr Quinlan probably needs that accounting 101 course a damn sight more than I do.

MR HARGREAVES: My question is to the Minister for Urban Services. In the DUS ownership agreement for 1999-2000 it is said that 189 out of 440 - that is, 43 per cent - of Canberra's playgrounds do not meet Australian standards. When I asked a question about this subject about a year ago I thought that it was about a dozen, but I was staggered to see that it is 189. The agreement also says that $20,000 for each playground is needed to bring them up to those standards. That would seem to mean that, on average, they fall well below the standards. The budget for fixing some of them this year is only $500,000, which means that only 25 of the 189 will be fixed in the coming year. Does the Minister agree that it will take, at 25 playgrounds a year, a minimum of seven years to bring them up to scratch? Will the Minister table by close of business today a list of those playgrounds which do not meet the standards?

MR SMYTH: Goodness me, Mr Speaker, here we go again; but at least it is a budget question.

Mr Moore: Swings and roundabouts.

MR SMYTH: We are on the swings and roundabouts again. There is money in this year's budget for playground upgrades, assuming that we do not have to take that money to pay for Mr Berry's training levy, which was not funded in the budget. We will prioritise the playgrounds that need most urgent attention and continue to upgrade them as funds permit. No, I will not table a list of playgrounds before the close of business today. Asking a question like that at 5.30 in the afternoon is just patently ridiculous and shows that Mr Hargreaves should actually look outside and see how dark it is.

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