Page 2733 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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was delivered late. We had a false opening. The budget blew out considerably. Not only did the budget blow out, it was blowing out at such a rate, from $110 million to $128 million to $131 million, that, in order to stop that blow-out going any further, what they said was: “What we will do is we will not deliver as much of a prison anymore. The best way to actually get within budget is to not deliver a whole prison. We will just scale it back, cut off 70-odd beds.” What did they cut off? They cut it off from 374 to 300, I think. Imagine how much they could have come in under budget if they cut it to 100 beds or 50 beds. That was their way of trying to keep within an ever-expanding budget.
But then we had the minister do a false opening before the election as an election stunt. It was open before the security system was really ready. We had glitches in that. We have seen prisoners walk free when they are not meant to walk free. We have seen people taking guns home. We have seen drugs coming into the prison. We have seen this in a very short space of time, it must be said. Special marks have to go to Mr Corbell.
But it is worth, in the ACT executive, reflecting on some of the questions taken on notice during public hearings. This is one that Mr Corbell answered in response to a question from Mr Smyth. It was in relation to emergency services. It was actually asked:
What have you delivered on time and on budget in Emergency Services since you became the minister?
The answer was:
The answer to the Member’s question is as follows:
Then there was the complete list of Mr Corbell’s on-time, on-target achievements. I do not think the emergency services headquarters gets a mention. Does it get a mention in here? No. It is fair to say most of the big things did not get mentioned. I know it is a different portfolio, but the prison would not have been mentioned because that was not on time and on budget. ESA, the busway, no, they were not delivered. FireLink? Was FireLink in here? No. That was $5 million. I do not know what the original budget was but we actually got nothing for that. We got zero.
The first in the list is some fuel tank removal and remediation. We have a list here from Mr Corbell. No 2 is asbestos removal. No 3 is water-saving shower heads. That is the No 3 achievement, on time, on budget—water-saving showerheads, low-flow spouts and dual flush toilets at all sites not fed from water tanks. And then we have got a number of others. We have got personal protective equipment storage for all ACT Fire Brigade facilities. A cupboard was delivered on time and on budget. This is what the minister is telling us about his record of delivery, of fiscal responsibility. The best he can come up with is this thin list which includes, at No 3, water-saving showerheads, and a cupboard.
This goes to some of our critique of the executive government. I have touched on their refusal to answer basic questions about their budgets. But we expect that ministers will answer these questions, some very simple questions, about their portfolios. They have refused to.
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