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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 12 Hansard (24 November) . . Page.. 3632 ..
MS CARNELL (continuing):
December 1995. We are talking about advice that was given by, shall we say, the old Public Service with tenure, without contracts and, I would have to say, with all of the things that members of this Assembly, particularly Mr Osborne, have said would have solved the problem. Contracts were not even in place when the initial Cabinet decision was taken to go down the path of implosion.
There was then a bit of a gap in the project due to a change in the Federal Government, but by December 1996, using the single select tender method, Project Coordination was engaged to be the project manager. Mr Speaker, may I have an extension of time?
Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, I ask that leave be given for the Chief Minister to speak without limitation of time.
Leave granted.
MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, contrary to the comments made by Mr Stanhope and, I think, others with regard to the single select tender method, I think it is appropriate to quote the coroner on that. The coroner said:
The single selection and appointment of PCAPL as the project manager on Friday 13th December 1996 was reasonable, practical and appropriate having regard to the special factors being considered such as the protesters, the squatters, the necessity to erect a fence urgently and the general pressure being conveyed to ACT Officials from the Commonwealth Government. It is the continuation of this appointment as the project manager without any form of review which is unsatisfactory particularly as PCAPL did not have any relevant experience in implosion demolition.
That is the whole quote, Mr Speaker. We have heard half of that quote a few times today but, unfortunately, not the whole quote. In other words, the coroner did not say that there was a problem with single selection. He said that single selection was actually very appropriate and very practical under certain circumstances.
At 5.00 pm the debate was interrupted in accordance with standing order 34. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
MS CARNELL
: Mr Speaker, from the Government's perspective, the choice of project manager was left to Totalcare to make and to manage. Significant criticism was directed at Totalcare and Project Coordination over their lack of experience. But from the Government's point of view, it placed the project in the hands of the experts and was entitled to rely on their apparent competence. Mr Stanhope has, I think, defamed Project Coordination both publicly and in this place quite dramatically, taking into account that Project Coordination was used by the previous Labor Government regularly. What sort of work have they done for the ACT Government? They have done things like the maternity unit at Woden Valley Hospital, the Hotel Kurrajong extension, the new wing
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