Questions without Notice 13 November 1990 ASSEMBLY 1813 Tuesday, 13 November 1990 The SPEAKER (Hon. Ken Coghill) took the chair at 2.5 p.m. and read the prayer. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE SALE AND LEASE-BACK OF ROLLING STOCK Mr BROWN (Leader of the Opposition)-I ask the Premier whether it is a fact that the government agreed to sell and lease-back $250 million worth of railway rolling stock from a $12 "shelf company" on the day before the end of the last financial year? Ms KIRNER (Premier)-I have no knowledge of the "shelf company". I shall be happy to investigate it for the Leader of the Opposition. Mr McNAMARA (Leader of the National Party)-I direct to the attention of the Premier the $250 million sale and lease-back deal undertaken by the government on 29 June this year, and I ask whether it is a fact that when the lease expires in seven years the government will be required to pay at least $207 million over and above the lease payments, which represents 83 per cent of the original lease amount, in a lump sum? Ms KIRNER (Premier)-I have already given an answer on this question to the Leader of the Opposition. Mr McNamara interjected. Ms KIRNER-The half-Premier? Do you want to talk about the half-Leader of the Opposition? I have already answered that question. I shall be happy to provide the details to the Leader of the Opposition. EXTENDED TRADING HOURS Mr COLE (Melbourne)-Will the Premier inform the House of the steps the government has taken to provide extended shop trading hours during the pre-Christmas period? Ms KIRNER (Premier)-I am pleased to inform the House that for the first time Melbourne and Geelong will have Sunday trading on the four Sundays before Christmas. Mr Leigh interjected. Ms KIRNER-I should have thought that the honourable member for Malvern would be pleased about that. I believe this is a victory for both consumers and the trading areas of Melbourne and Geelong in particular. Not only that, meat will be available for sale during those times: when the shops are open red meat will be available to be sold. Honourable members interjecting. Ms KIRNER-I am pleased to hear the cheers of the members of the Opposition because this is something they could never accomplish. We have accomplished it by Questions without Notice 1814 ASSEMBLY 13 November 1990 extensive consultation with employers and employees; and I am sure the people of Victoria will be delighted. Under the 1987 Shop Trading Act provincial centres and provincial cities will be able to apply to the Minister for Consumer Affairs for approval for Saturday and, if they wish, Sunday trading. I am sure the Minister for Consumer Affairs will treat favourably such applications, which should come in speedily. As well as the decision to give Victoria four Sunday trading days before Christmas, the government has also been able to reach agreement on the availability of red meat during trading hours. Also I wish to announce that the government will act immediately-and I am sure the Opposition will have no difficulty in accepting the introduction of the legislation-to bring red meat trading hours into line with general shop trading hours. Honourable Members-Hear, hear! Ms KIRNER-Thank you. I am pleased to have the support of the Opposition on that matter. It means that butchers and red meat sections of supermarkets will be able to stay open until 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and when they wish from Monday to Friday. That puts red meat retailers on an equal basis with sellers of other foods and products. I am sure-this will meet with approval from consumers, as it has already met with approval from the Opposition. That decision is an example of what can be done when one carefully works through policy issues and does not grab at a few things in the sky, like the Opposition does, and when one carefully works with employers and employees to obtain a result that is in the best interests of the community; in particular, it will give the retail trade in Melbourne a spectacular lift. SALE AND LEASE-BACK OF ROLLING STOCK Mr BROWN (Leader of the Opposition)-Due to the inability of the Premier to be aware of what her government is doing, I ask the Treasurer: is it a fact that the government did agree to sell and lease back $250 million worth of railway rolling stock from a $12 "shelf company" on the day before the end of the last financial year? Mr ROPER (Treasurer)-I am interested that the Leader of the Opposition periodically is at least able to address a question appropriately. The proposal for sale and lease-back under operating lease agreements was proposed as part of the 1989-90 Budget for the sum of$180 million of transport equipment. That was increased at the time when it became obvious that a significant sale of Government Employee Housing Authority properties would not proceed. Although the final execution was in June 1990, the initial letters relating to the transaction were exchanged in February. Full proposals were requested in March, tenders were received in April and Babcock and Brown were mandated for the proposal in May. There were very significant analyses and negotiations prior to the transaction finally being concluded in June. All this information has been provided to the Honourable R. M. Hallam in another place, and I suggest it would be useful, if the Leader of the Opposition wants this information, for him to discuss it with his colleague in another place. ARTS FUNDING Mrs BARKER (Bentleigh)-I ask the Minister for the Arts to advise the House what recent steps he has taken to provide funding support for community-based arts groups? Questions without Notice 13 November 1990 ASSEMBLY 1815 Mr KENNAN (Minister for the Arts)-I thank the honourable member for her question and for her continuing interest in the arts. Although honourable members opposite may be confused over the rate of initiatives in this area, this is a different and an additional announcement. I know there is a lot of activity in the area and it must be taking members opposite by surprise particularly given their lack of interest and lack of policy in this area. Today I am announcing almost $12 million ofgrants to about 370 cultural organisations across Victoria. The grants are to non-government community organisations especially and provide the backbone for funding for the arts throughout Victoria. The special support has been provided not only to the established organisations, but also to youth projects, people with disabilities, cultural activities by and for women, and in the Abori~nal cultural initiative area. Most companies in all art forms have been able to recelve ~ants comparable in cash terms to those of last year but there have been some signlficant increases for both large and small companies, including the Melbourne Theatre Company, Victoria State Opera and Playbox Theatre Company, and for a number of smaller and medium-sized companies such as the Victorian Centre for Photography, the Writers Centre, Australian Print Workshop and the Museum of the West, which is also an extremely important initiative. To promote greater access throughout regional Victoria-and my colleagues in the corner understand the government's commitment to regional Victoria-more than 25 community festivals have been funded, and more than $2·8 million in grants has been allocated to cultural facilities, including performing arts centres, art galleries and historical museums. The purpose of all this funding is to encourage the diversity, creativity and quality of art produced throughout Victoria. It is certainly of a very high quality and diverse. It requires the continuing and ongoing support of government as well as the support of the community and the private sector. These grants have been formulated through a unique peer group panel process enlisting the support of people active within the industry, and that input has been very important. The grants range across various art forms including literature, where some nine literary magazines have been funded, including some innovative positions such as a youth literary field officer position, the inaugural national Montsalvat Poetry Festival and a new publication initiative, the Women's Book Review, has also been funded. In addition, of the established and very important area of literary magazines, more than half the literary magazines in Australia are operating out of Melbourne which has historically been a great strength. Scripsi, Meanjin and Overland have also been supported, in a couple of cases with increased grants. They are great magazines and unique to Victoria. Museums across Victoria, including the Bendigo Chinese Museum and the Buda historic home at Castlemaine have also received grants. In addition, as I indicated, in the theatre area the Melbourne Theatre Company and the Playbox Theatre Company have received significantly increased funding-some $802 000 and $367 000 respectively-while the Australian Nouveau Theatre Company (Anthill) has also had a-substantial increase this year. In dance there has been a range of important grants made including a grant to Danceworks, the Ballarat-based dance company, which has also received a significant increase. Mr E. R. Smith-Why don't you just lodge your annual report? Mr KENNAN-Mr Speaker. I understand the total lack of interest in this area by the Opposition and there is not hing more it dislikes than to hear good news. There is nothing more it dislikes than a bit of creativity and the fact that we are working out there with the community in a range of important areas.