Page 618 - Week 02 - Thursday, 21 February 1991
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you some of the comments by members of the public on the proposal to demolish the weir, as shown by these letters to the editor of the Canberra Times.
My opinion on the matter is that the weir should not be demolished. However, I have always believed that an investigation should be made into ways of making the area safer. Obvious suggestions for this are fencing off the weir from both sides of the river bank; laying metal pickets across the top of the weir; and installing a gate at the entrance to the Casuarina Sands area, with a sign clearly informing the public not to use the facility when the gates are locked.
I am sure that officers from the Minister's department will be able to devise a range of more substantial proposals, given time. Such improvements would, of course, substantially reduce the potential of any other legal action in the event of an accident. Mr Speaker, my position on Casuarina Sands weir is clear: Keep the weir and spend the allocated $66,000 or a necessary proportion for further improvements to safety in the area. It is time that those opposite did something constructive rather than destructive. May I point out to Mr Duby that I never suggested spikes going up in the river. We talked about iron bars across parts of the area so that timber could flow over them or a body could flow over them or people could grab onto them if they were going over when it was flooding. We did not talk about spikes going up in the air. If Mr Duby would get his facts right he would understand what was said to him.
MR KAINE (Chief Minister), by leave: I suggest that Mrs Grassby's speech has demonstrated more strongly than anything that we could say that the action that we have just taken is correct. She recounted the events of that tragic occasion when three people drowned. She tends to play down the quality of the people who were involved. She said that the unit that went out there was only a backup unit. They were people trained to do the job.
Mrs Grassby: One policeman, and the fire department was not called, as it should have been.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Grassby!
Mrs Grassby: Let him get his facts straight, Mr Speaker.
MR KAINE: I have got my facts straight, Mrs Grassby. I went out there yesterday. I spoke to the police rescue squad, the officers involved. I spoke to the rangers whose job it is to ensure safety out there. I went through every possible option of upgrading that area so that it could be safe. They are the people who were involved in attempting to rescue that boy in 1986 and they explained all of the things that they tried to do to save that boy, and no equipment available - - -
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