BUS CONTRACTS

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Transport Services. In relation to the metropolitan bus contracts, does the minister accept that the government has the responsibility to enter into practical contracts, and that involves checking that services can be delivered for the price that is being offered?

The Hon. C.C. FOX (Bright—Minister for Transport Services, Minister Assisting the Minister for the Arts) (15:11): I thank the member for her question. All governments enter into any given contract as responsibly as they should. The contracting out of these particular services which I know that you are alluding to occurred in an upfront, authentic and honest way. There was nothing other than open and honest tendering within the parameters of a privatisation system that was, in fact, set up by those opposite.