Page 1458 - Week 05 - Thursday, 13 May 2021
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Chief Minister, do you support establishing a nationally run quarantine facility in the ACT?
MR BARR: I do not think it would be the first one built in Australia; I think we would probably be the eighth. We have the least capacity of all the states and territories to accommodate such a centre. But, if the commonwealth are going to roll out a national program—and presumably the scale of these would need to be the sort of scale of Howard Springs in the Northern Territory—you are talking about centres that could accommodate 1,000 to 2,000 people, I could not immediately identify a block of land that would be suitable, right at the moment. But it may well be that, as part of a national program, the commonwealth may seek sites on its own owned land, of which it has a considerable amount in the ACT, for such a centre. I suspect that they would focus on larger jurisdictions with more land and greater connectivity to international airports and regular flights as part of a national program. At this point, they have made no such commitment, and it is not on the immediate horizon.
MR PARTON: Chief Minister, what sort of locations would be considered for a facility like this if this program was rolled out here in the ACT?
MR BARR: That is a hypothetical question.
MADAM SPEAKER: It may be.
MS LEE: Chief Minister, have you had conversations with Mr Albanese or any other federal colleague about the building of this facility in the ACT? If so, what are the results of those discussions?
MR BARR: No, and there are no such conversations underway. Various members of the national cabinet have raised this matter with the Prime Minister, and various proposals have been put forward by state governments. The government acted on an expansion effectively of Howard Springs in the Northern Territory in partnership with the Northern Territory government, but there are no such proposals for the ACT.
Advertising—use on public transport
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. Canberrans take pride in our territory and it is not awash with billboards and public space advertising. Only six of the 166 submissions to the 2017 Legislative Assembly inquiry supported outdoor advertising. Yet the light rail now features wraparound advertising. The Sydney-based TorchMedia company, which manages the advertising, states on its website that it can offer clients the opportunity to wrap the iconic Canberra light rail from May 2021. It says light rail advertising comes in response to growing demands from advertisers. Minister, given Canberrans strongly oppose outdoor advertising why has this government allowed advertising on light rail?
MR STEEL: I thank the member for his question in relation to advertising on public transport. For some time—for many decades, in fact—across the ACT there has been advertising on public transport. That includes our buses as well as light rail. Since the
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