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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 3 Hansard (6 March) . . Page.. 642 ..

MR STEFANIAK: My supplementary question is: have you or anyone in government had discussions with the Canberra North Rotary Club, who have managed parking at Bruce for many years, to the benefit of many charities in the ACT? I do not mind who answers that.

MR QUINLAN: I have not had discussions with the Canberra North Rotary Club, although I do know that club quite well and I have a couple of very good friends there. No, I have not discussed it with them. I would think it might be a tad premature, at this stage, when I have already said that I have not designed the car parks-which I should not do in the first place-to be deciding who is going to be collecting the money in them.

Reviews, inquiries and consultancies

MRS CROSS: My question to the Chief Minister, Mr Stanhope, refers to his comments about the cost of reviews and inquiries announced by the government over the past four months. Mr Stanhope, to date there have been at least 60 reviews, inquiries, consultancies and public service actions announced by your government. You have refused to reveal the costs of most of them, but some of the larger ones have had some figures attached to them. As an example, the minister for education, in an off-the-cuff remark to journalists last year, said that the announced review of the eduction portfolio would cost about $1 million. Similarly, the recently announced review by the IT advisory panel is expected to come in at around at least $200,000.

Minister, how do you reconcile these amounts with your statement yesterday that the total cost of all reviews which you have announced to date-and there is no guarantee that this is the end of them-will be less than $1 million?

MR STANHOPE: I thank Mrs Cross for her question because I can talk about reviews now without interruption.

MR SPEAKER: I think it is open for you to talk about reviews.

MR STANHOPE: I am bending my mind to this issue of reviews and their costs. You have concentrated my mind on this. It has occurred to me that we are going to save money on the review in relation to Mrs Dunne's car, and the extra expenses we are all paying.

It just occurred to me as well that one of the other issues that I have a particular interest in looking at concerns issues within this place in relation to staff and administrative costs, in order to ensure that we as members are better able to pursue our responsibilities. I take on board your objections and your complaints about the cost of some of these things, and I have just worked out how we can save some more money. Of course, I will take your objection to the government looking at some of these issues as a determination that you do not wish to be involved in the review in relation to staffing and administrative expenses within the Assembly. I will take that as a nil response and I will have the terms of reference adjusted and the review will now only look at the needs of the government and the crossbench.

Mrs Cross: Mr Speaker, would you like me to ask the question again. I would just like an answer to my question.

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