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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3758 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I am not particularly aware of the issue Mr Rugendyke has raised. I am happy to examine the issue that he has put on the table and see whether the rebates are set at an appropriate level. I am not sure whether the rebates are meant to cover this kind of additional cost or whether they are meant to be a generalised, across - the - board averaging of the extra cost. I am happy to find out, Mr Speaker.

MR BERRY: My question is to the minister for sport, Mr Stefaniak. On radio 2CC last Friday the minister agreed with the presenter that, in relation to the long - awaited Belconnen pool, the government did not "want another bungle like Bruce Stadium". That was very brave. He is the first minister in the government to declare that it was a bungle. The minister must have recognised that, in those 1,200 words in those 11 volumes, nothing good was said about the Bruce Stadium. Thank you for recognising that it was a bungle, Minister. Was this just a temporary exhibition of bravado now that the job search allowance of the former Chief Minister is about to run out? Does the minister concede that, as a member of cabinet - he was there at all relevant times - he contributed to the bungle? When he said that the government needed to be careful, did that mean you had to be careful not to be caught?

MR STEFANIAK: What a pathetic question to ask!

MR SPEAKER: I think the second part you can probably answer, not the first and the third.

MR STEFANIAK: The greatest bungle to come out of Bruce Stadium, Mr Berry, was the disgraceful treatment given to Mrs Carnell, who has done more for this territory than any other Chief Minister since self - government. That is the bungle that resulted from what you lot did.

Mr Berry is right in part of his question. He talked about process. Process is terribly important. That is certainly something this government has learned. We have made no bones about the fact that the process for Bruce Stadium could have been handled better. If there is a bungle in that, there is. But the greatest bungle, Mr Berry, is you clowns opposite and what you did in using that issue to hound the former Chief Minister, who has done so much for the territory.

MR BERRY: I have a supplementary question. Will the minister confirm that, by conceding that the Belconnen pool will not be built before the next election, he has ruled out categorically any illegal unappropriated expenditure or overnight loans to expedite the project? Will he guarantee that there will be no more sod turnings?

MR SPEAKER: There is an inference in the first part of that question, which I rule out of order.

MR STEFANIAK: There certainly is. I answered Mr Berry last week when I said that it takes more than 12 months to build a pool. I do not think we will bother with sod turnings. I have said before that I am sick of them. Why don't we challenge you to something like a water polo game when the pool is built?

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