Page 3121 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 10 September 1991
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We need to look very carefully at the protection of any further sites as part of a management plan in our national parks and in the beautiful parks in the Australian Capital Territory.
MR STEFANIAK (9.58): Mr Speaker, I noted with interest what you said about a possible use of this site and also what Mr Humphries said. Having been on the committee and looked at the site, I recall that Honeysuckle Creek is more than just a shell and something perhaps could be done with it. That is probably the one you are talking of. Orroral Valley is virtually useless and must be demolished.
I was heartened to hear what Mrs Grassby said in relation to the Commonwealth paying. I note that recommendation 14 says:
That the Commonwealth Government be asked to fund the cost of the demolition of both buildings ...
Perhaps we need to go further than just asking them to fund the cost of demolition. They should be made to foot the entire bill for any demolition of those sites because, firstly, it is a national park and those sites are in a national park; and, secondly, those sites, when they were used, were used by the Commonwealth and were closed at a time when the Commonwealth had full responsibility for the ACT.
I do not think there is any logical or legal obligation for the ACT Government, which came into being in May 1989, to fund the demolition of those sites. That should remain the responsibility of the Commonwealth. So, I think we need to do more than just ask them. This Government should demand that the Commonwealth Government live up to its obligation if those sites are to be demolished.
DR KINLOCH (9.59), in reply: I would like to thank the many members who have spoken for their comments today. They were very thoughtful. Obviously, many of us are very touched by the problems posed in that national park. I commend and endorse Mr Duby's comments, and much that has been said by Mrs Grassby, Mr Humphries and Mr Moore. It was a pleasure to be chair of that committee but also a great sadness, because we really had to come to a decision to demolish. We were not happy with that; we were led to it. I did not see what real alternatives there were, unless there was tens of millions of dollars available or, as in the case of Williamsburg, Virginia, some kind of Rockefeller who could help us to restore the area.
I am sympathetic, Mr Speaker, as you know, to your views on the Buddhist Society. It is particularly interesting to note that they would not wish to have or could get along without the power, water and sewerage arrangements; but whether that could be permitted under our kind of
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