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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 3 Hansard (6 March) . . Page.. 644 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

an inquiry of the nature of the Gallop inquiry? We had the report of the board of inquiry into disability services because of your failings.

Mrs Cross: Mr Speaker, I seek you guidance.

MR SPEAKER: Order! I think Mrs Cross is raising a point of order.

Mrs Cross: Mr Speaker, I would just like an answer to my question regarding the cost of all the reviews. Will they be less than $1 million? That is all I would like to know.

MR SPEAKER: I am sure the Chief Minister is coming to that.

MR STANHOPE: Certainly, I am. And how do you measure the cost of inquiry? How do you measure the cost benefit? What would have been the cost benefit of an inquiry into the hospital implosion conducted and undertaken by an expert? What would we have saved had you done the work, had you had an inquiry, had you had a review, had you engaged an expert before you blew up the hospital? What would have been the consequences of your doing that work? How do you measure the costs? How do you measure the cost of the fact that you didn't do the work that you should have done in relation to the hospital implosion? The fact is that it has actually cost us over $3 million in legal expenses, not to count the enormous tragedy of that particular event. How do you cost that? What cost are you talking about? Let us cost-

Mrs Cross: Mr Speaker, I refer to standing order 118. Could I just have an answer to my question please.

MR SPEAKER: Mrs Cross has raised a point of order. Could I clarify this. A fairly pointed question about reviews was asked and I think the Chief Minister is entitled to expand upon the issue. If you ask these questions you have to expect that there is going to be a little bit of feedback from the people you asked the questions of. However, I think the point you raise in relation to standing order 118 (a) has some validity, to the extent that I will now ask the Chief Minister to be a little bit more concise and to the point.

MR STANHOPE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will just give one more example and then I will draw the answer to a conclusion. I will, of course, use the example of the Bruce stadium. We know through the 14 volumes of Auditor-General's report into Bruce stadium that the previous government, this opposition, the Liberal Party, didn't do the work. We know they didn't do the reviews, we know they didn't engage the experts, we know they promised to spend $12 million and we know it cost us $100 million.

Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker-

MR STANHOPE: So let us talk about the cost. How do we measure the cost?

MR SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne has a point of order. Resume your seat please, Chief Minister.

Mrs Dunne: Mr Speaker, I draw your attention to standing order 62, which relates to tedious repetition.

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