Page 2912 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 August 1991
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start from the assumption that it is not a matter for debate and negotiation and contention. Let us have some consultation, let us have some review in the interests of the people whose interests at this moment seem to have been totally set aside in favour of some unspecified, unquantified and unjustified community of some kind out there. I do not know who on earth they are.
MR MOORE (4.02): Since Mr Kaine obviously does not know who the community is, I am quite happy to tell him. It was a very good decision on the part of the Labor Party, particularly on the part of Mr Wood, as Planning Minister, to reverse the ridiculous decision made by Trevor Kaine and Craig Duby, as I recall, without even being prepared to consult the rest of the Cabinet because they knew that they would have difficulty getting it through. This land has no environmental merit, according to Mr Kaine. We are talking about a prime block of land, a lakeshore frontage.
Mr Kaine: I said that it has no particular environmental merit. Don't misquote me.
MR MOORE: I will accept "no particular environmental merit". It is a lakeshore frontage. No doubt, Mr Kaine, you have been to Geneva. The only spot where you can access that beautiful lake, apart from through private properties, is between a freeway and the lake. That is the sort of thing people like Trevor Kaine would have in Canberra - no access to the lake except for a few people. That lake, thanks to the decision of this Labor Government, is now able to be set aside for posterity. That is what it is going to be set aside for - not for individuals, ageing veterans, who deserve our special consideration, but for posterity.
As far as those ageing veterans go, to use Mr Kaine's term, we all respect them for their contribution. That is why in 1989 Rosemary Follett offered them, in fact, block 10 section 149 in Belconnen in the letter that Mr Wood referred to. I will ask later that it be tabled. In fact, they have been offered alternatives, but they are bloody-minded about getting a particular piece of land. With a particular piece of land we have to be very careful that we do not set up a development that will continue along the lake. Once you have broken the mould, it is much easier for development approvals to go ahead. We have seen that happen in many cities throughout the world. It is usually referred to as "strip development".
It is ironic that Trevor Kaine, of all people, should refer to the streets and so forth that are shown on that block of land. What he was referring to was the proposed variation, the proposed streets, not what the plan actually shows at the moment. I hope that when Mr Kaine looks at it he will be able to correct that mistake to the Assembly.
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