Page 1467 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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need not be a debate about facilities management. It should be a debate about the best possible outcomes for students across the territory. I will, of course, be in the process of consulting with the community over the next six months, looking at a range of options for what might happen with school buildings that are no longer required. Obviously, there will be a range of groups interested in potentially using such facilities and I will be happy to engage in that where it is appropriate as education minister. It may also be appropriate that some buildings move to my colleague Mr Hargreaves as territory and municipal services minister, as the property group sits within his portfolio.
MR SESELJA: Minister, will you comply with the provision of the platform which says that proceeds from school assets sold be retained by the education system?
MR BARR: I believe that to be a very sound principle. Yes, we would comply with that.
Public service—human resources system
MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Chief Minister in his capacity as minister responsible for the public service. Chief Minister, the CHRIS21 human resources system that was commissioned to replace PERSPECT has not had a happy start. Is it the case that the CHRIS21 system has only 30 per cent of the functionality of PERSPECT and cannot manage recreation leave or long service leave calculations?
MR STANHOPE: I thank the shadow attorney for his question. I think the short answer to both questions is no, to the extent that you quote certain percentages and statistics in relation to the system’s functionality and capacity and then draw some conclusions to the effect that it is not able to meet its anticipated use or uses. Certainly I will take the question on notice to confirm that, but I think the answer in both cases is no.
I do not deny, and the government does not deny, that there has been a range of frustrating start-up issues that have led to—
Mr Smyth: Yes, it does not work.
MR STANHOPE: No, it is not that it does not work. But certainly there have been, as there is almost invariably with new systems and new technology across the board in any major enterprise, a range of issues encountered at start-up. It would be very rare indeed in the commissioning of a whole new system if there were not, during commissioning, a range of issues that arise that can be dealt with and resolved.
In the case of CHRIS21, certainly a range of issues that had not been anticipated were met during commissioning. With the application of some additional resources we are seeking to meet those and work our way through it. But, at the end of the day, our hope and expectation and our experience to date is that it is a system that will meet the needs of the ACT Public Service. It was a very specific question. I will get more detail and I will respond to the specific aspects of it.
MR STEFANIAK: I ask a supplementary question. The Chief Minister may need to take some of it on notice. Chief Minister, how much is it costing the government to manually cover the shortfalls in CHRIS21’s functions? Has Mr Costello taken problems with this system into account in assessing the potential savings from shared services?
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