Courts Precinct

Mr TARZIA (Hartley) (15:17): My question is to the Attorney-General again. What is the estimated cost of the courts precinct project to the government to date, including the $300,000 for the scoping study?

The SPEAKER: Current Attorney-General.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (15:17): I defer to you, Mr Speaker, if you would prefer to take this one.

Mr Marshall: They are a lot more cogent answers.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: He is much more pithy than me when he gets down to it. I will check this, member for Hartley. To the best of my knowledge, the government expenditure in respect of this falls into two categories: the $300,000, which was in the budget a year or so ago, and then there is another amount of time which people who are paid public servants have devoted as part and parcel of their normal duties to sit down and work through—

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis interjecting:

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Yes, indeed. So, existing complements of public servants were engaged in a task force which was looking at the preparation of this. I know some members of the Supreme Court were on it. Some members of the District Court were on it. They spent time, and that was essentially putting together the design brief, and that's as far as I know. I will check if there is any other expenditure but, as far as I know, it's the $300,000 plus whatever time the public servants put into it which, of course, we are paying for anyway.