Page 1501 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 May 1990
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still growing. As Mrs Grassby said, this issue is of enormous concern to members of the community in that area of Canberra, but also in other areas of Canberra. Who is to know the future of the Mugga Lane tip or the Belconnen tip?
If the attitude is going to be, "We'll tell you when we're ready" - and that was the interjected comment by the Attorney-General yesterday afternoon - who is to know whether a tip or facility that is open one day will disappear the next? What is to happen to the valuable land on which this tip is situated? There were howls of derision from the members opposite when privatisation was mentioned, but we will watch with interest to see what happens to this land and we will hold you to your statement that it will not be sold.
If self-government is ever going to be accepted by the people of this town as the proper way to run their affairs, as we on this side of the house earnestly hope, it will only occur when people feel that this Assembly is standing up for their interests, that this Assembly is treated seriously by the Executive Government, and that important decisions affecting the lives of Canberrans are put to this Assembly for full consideration.
Simply announcing arrogantly the closure of an important community facility and then attempting rather feebly to justify it to this house is not the way to ensure that citizens of Canberra accept this house as a worthy addition to the system of government. It is pointless to have a government which refuses to consult or talk to the citizens of this town. The Ainslie Transfer Station is one small issue of crucial importance to a very substantial part of the Canberra community. In the broader range of things it may be seen as just one station, but it is symptomatic of the arrogant failure to consult that is endemic to the Alliance coalition.
If it is only members on this side of the house who support Mr Moore's motion today - if Dr Kinloch, in particular, refuses to come into the house and support a view that he supported in a press statement last week - the citizens of Canberra will know in truth what sort of a government they have: a government of strange alliances that utterly and arrogantly fails to consult with the community.
MR DUBY (Minister for Finance and Urban Services) (11.35): Mr Speaker, I was not going to dignify this debate today by comment. I think this is a sham debate. This matter was monitored and discussed at length yesterday; the very same motion that we have here in private members' business was put up yesterday and defeated soundly. However, I feel I have to rise to my feet just to say how disappointing it was to listen to the level of debate that I have heard from that side of the house.
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