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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Wednesday, 3 March 2004) . . Page.. 678 ..

we will continue to make changes to support people in our community with mental illness and we will address the other issues that have been put forward today and actually commit ourselves to looking after our community.

Amendments agreed to.

Motion, as amended, agreed to.

Williamsdale Quarry

MR SMYTH (Leader of the Opposition) (4.40): Mr Speaker, I move:

That this Assembly calls on the ACT Government to provide, by close of business today, details of:

(1) the process by which the sale of Williamsdale Quarry was achieved, including details of any public tenders that were sought and the responses to those tenders;

(2) the sale of the Williamsdale Quarry business and assets, including the sale price;

(3) all parties who expressed interest in buying Totalcare’s share of the Williamsdale Quarry joint venture;

(4) the reasons why various parties were unsuccessful in their offers to purchase the Williamsdale Quarry business; and

(5) any involvement and undertakings by Totalcare in the Williamsdale Quarry business after 30 June 2002.

Mr Speaker, serious concerns exist about the way in which this government disposed of Totalcare’s interest in the Williamsdale Quarry. In answer to a question without notice on 10 February this year, the Treasurer said, in part:

…if members are getting excited about some of the reports in the media, that the reports are not quite accurate. There is not much salacious to look forward to as a result of the recent reporting.

That is a typical sort of answer from Mr Quinlan—“Believe me, I’m an accountant. Trust me, I’m an accountant. There is no need to provide information.” That is a complete contradiction of the promise made in 2001 about having a Labor government that is open, responsible and accountable. Unfortunately, that is not necessarily so in this case. As an aside, I refer to the Treasurer’s use of the word “salacious”. “Salacious” refers to lust and lechery and its use was completely inappropriate in this case, unless there is more to this saga than we really know.

Mr Speaker, the Assembly and the community have been treated with complete disdain by this government over the sale of the Williamsdale Quarry. When these affairs first came to air, we were offered a briefing on the Williamsdale Quarry. That was arranged and the briefing team turned up, as scheduled, on 20 February. But did we get a briefing on the quarry? Not quite. What we actually got was a briefing on a different matter—

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