Page 1448 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 17 April 1991
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I refer back to that same paragraph that I mentioned before:
When possible land uses and development constraints are determined, allocation of the school building and land to an alternative user or users will be undertaken by the ACT Administration.
It seems to me that the sentence, "When possible land uses and development constraints are determined ... indicates that, independent of any objections, they are going to be determined. The remainder of the sentence, dealing with allocation of the school building and land to an alternative user or users, indicates that there will be an alternative user and that will be undertaken by the ACT Administration.
What is there is technically quite appropriate. But, in terms of the language, it still is saying that it does not matter what is said because that is going to go ahead and will be undertaken by the ACT Administration. That is particularly so when it follows from the final sentence of the previous paragraph:
Existing school buildings may be used for offices of sporting, cultural, social or other non-profit community based organisations.
That is in specific reference to the draft variation to block 2, section 21, Holder, adjacent to Blackwood Terrace. That is the Holder Primary School.
I will now make the final point that a further period be made available to allow preparation of submissions. If we are really interested in genuine community consultation, if we are really interested in reaching out to the community, not just in this situation, then all such applications for draft variations must be made to the community in a reasonable way. In this particular situation, of course, it is a very emotive issue. It is an issue that has received a tremendous amount of attention from the people of Canberra. It is an issue that is critical to people.
It is not to be underestimated how strongly people feel. It is not to be underestimated how strongly some people still feel about the school in Page. Just a matter of weeks ago I was speaking to somebody who had not been involved in a second school closure but was still incredibly angry about the fact that the heart had been ripped out of the Page community as far as their school closure went and the impact that it had on his family and himself.
As the Chief Minister recognises, these issues have a tremendous amount of emotional impact, apart from the practical and rational side of it. Therefore, it is appropriate that we allow people the chance to respond to these draft variations; that we allow people - if they have
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