Page 2144 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 6 June 1990
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
that users of the facility have access to buses and that all socioeconomic levels of society have access to the centre. Its central location ensures that those who have motor cars and who wish to use the centre have access to parking close by. There are large numbers of groups who use the Griffin Centre. There are about 450 community groups and we know that the Government has not consulted with all of them. We know that it has not consulted with all of them because of the angry response that there has been to the Government's position.
Mr Speaker, 20,000 people in the community are represented by those 450 groups and have access to the centre. There are 30-odd organisations which are more or less permanent residents in the centre. A little while ago the following motion was passed at a public meeting in the Griffin Centre:
This meeting demands that the Griffin Centre be retained on the current site and that a lease of 25 years be issued forthwith to the ACT Council of Cultural Societies on behalf of all current and future community users of the centre. The said lease must assure:
. security of tenure;
. proper maintenance of the building;
. all charges (including rent and rates) to be maintained at minimum levels;
. no increases in charges beyond movements in the CPI;
. all other terms and conditions to be conducive to the ongoing operations of the community organisations who utilise the facilities of the Griffin Centre.
That motion was carried unanimously. It is interesting that in such an important debate there are six empty chairs in the Government benches opposite; it must surely be approaching the time when there could be a quorum problem in the Assembly.
Mr Speaker, access to this centre is not limited to the people in the centre of Canberra. It is available to a wide cross-section of people from every part of Canberra. It is an important community asset. It is not a government plaything; it is a moneymaking concern for the Government in the sense that the community profits from the very important services that are delivered from the centre. They are delivered in a very economical way. If the Government were forced to deliver those services, it would cost much more and there would be a greater burden on the Territory's funds. To that extent one could argue that the Government relies very heavily on those services.
What is required for the people of the Griffin Centre is stability, not ad hoc decisions such as we have seen lately coming from different members of the Government. The ad hoc decisions and comments that have been coming from the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .