Page 1285 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 23 March 2010
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MS BRESNAN: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Is it appropriate that over two-thirds of the entities signed up to the commercial waste programs OfficeSmart and BusinessSmart are government agencies rather than private businesses?
MR CORBELL: What that fails to acknowledge is that the largest signatories in terms of total number of businesses are in the private sector. We have 48 sites now involved in BusinessSmart. The largest single signers are Westfield Belconnen and Westfield Woden, with 465 separate franchise sites signed up to that initiative. That would dwarf all of the other entities combined in terms of the number of sites and businesses that are being captured. Ms Bresnan should focus on the number of businesses that we are reaching. With this one single signatory, we are reaching 465 businesses and getting them signed up to this program.
Equally, the Canberra Centre has indicated that it will be signing up to the BusinessSmart initiative. We will achieve access to another 300 separate franchise businesses as a result of that decision by the Canberra Centre. Whilst they may be only two signatures, combined they reach over 700 businesses.
MR SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Ms Hunter?
MS HUNTER: Minister, is funding for the commercial waste scheme being used for government agencies to improve their required ESD reporting data or is it helping to pay for the development of the new 2010 waste strategy?
MR CORBELL: I cannot answer for what other government agencies are doing, so I do not think I can answer the first part of Ms Hunter’s question. I cannot answer for what decisions government agencies are doing outside my portfolio. In relation to funding from BusinessSmart—is that the question: funding from BusinessSmart to do the waste strategy?
Ms Hunter: And OfficeSmart?
MR CORBELL: The answer is no—not that I am aware of. It is separately funded. It is separately funded under the budget. There is a specific allocation being made for that policy development. I am not aware that there has been any funding transferred from the deployment of the BusinessSmart and OfficeSmart programs to fund the policy development.
Schools—closures
MR DOSZPOT: My question is to the minister for education. Minister, for the benefit of the Assembly and the community, will you rule out any further school closures during this term of the Assembly?
MR BARR: Yes, Mr Speaker, and I have already done so in this place on more than one occasion.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Doszpot, a supplementary question?
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