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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 10 Hansard (12 October) . . Page.. 2958 ..
Amendments (Mr Kaine's ), as amended, agreed to.
Motion (Ms Tucker's ), as amended, agreed to.
MR SMYTH (Minister for Urban Services): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a short statement on something I said this morning.
Leave granted.
MR SMYTH: In her closing remarks this morning, Ms Tucker questioned some of the advice I was getting, as it conflicted with what the union was saying. She asked me to confirm whether an OH&S meeting had taken place, to tell her the date of the meeting and to table the minutes. I now table the minutes of that meeting.
Mr Speaker, during the debate I also said that the meeting had occurred on 31 August. I have since received a letter from the chief executive of my department to say that this was not so. It was in fact on 6 September. I will read the chief executive's letter, then I will table it for members' information. It reads:
Dear Minister,
During a debate this morning in the Legislative Assembly you stated that an OH&S Committee meeting had been held on 31 August 1999. This was on the basis of the information provided to you by my Department. This information that a meeting had occurred on 31 August 1999 was subsequently questioned and checked by the Department and confirmed to your staff.
The purported date of the meeting appeared to be consistent with the statements that the CFMEU representative Mr John Clyde "will arrange for samples of the flock to be tested", which we know to have been done on 31 August 1999. However despite further checking in preparation for today's debate, attendees have now confirmed that the meeting was held on the 6 September 1999. The minutes of the meeting confirm this.
I apologise on behalf of the Department to you and the Assembly for this error. There was no intention to provide inaccurate information. The question of why this inaccurate information was provided is now being investigated.
Yours sincerely
Alan Thompson
Chief Executive
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