Page 618 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 1990
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and expressed concern about this issue. He asked me what it was all about. I said, "Well, hang on a minute, Rodney, I think you will find that there has been a complete and utter misrepresentation of what is going on". When I explained the facts to him, sent him a copy of the report and referred him to that, he apologised to me. He then said, "I am sorry, I was taken in by this sort of emotional claptrap". So it is a cheap headline. That is all the Opposition members can do - search for the cheap headlines in much the same way as Mrs Grassby did in relation to the Northbourne flats. Cheap headlines, that is all they are good for. Their attitude is, "Let's go for a cheap headline; don't let the facts get in the way of a good story".
Mr Speaker, many times during his period in the Assembly, I seem to recall Mr Whalan referring to the need for more jobs for our children and the need to develop a viable private sector industry in the ACT. That is something which we in the Alliance Government fully support.
I also note that once again today Mr Moore insulted the Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra by saying that that body is not being represented at the Institution of Engineers conference today. As I understand it, Mr Falconer, the director of the Conservation Council of the South-East Region and Canberra has been invited to speak at that conference. He is acknowledged as the representative of that particular movement in this part of Canberra. Therefore, he is there, and he is being offered the opportunity to put the conservation movement's case to the Institution.
Ms Follett's motion, which we are debating today, relates to an issue which is of concern to all members of the house and, I would suggest, to most members of the ACT community. We all acknowledge that the VFT is a visionary project, one which could have considerable benefits for the ACT. But I think we would also agree that it is a project with far-reaching implications, no doubt about that. Earlier, I heard Mr Moore say that the route for the VFT would go through national parks.
Mr Moore: That is not what I said at all.
MR JENSEN: You did say that; you said it in an interjection. He said it in an interjection, Mr Speaker, and I would let the record stand.
Mr Moore: I did not. I said, "Why don't you send it through a national park, Mr Stefaniak?".
MR JENSEN: Mr Speaker, I would suggest that if Mr Moore has a look at the area through which the proposed route will go, he will see that there is not one national park affected - not one. So let us get the facts right, Mr Moore, and let us not misrepresent the situation once again.
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