Page 4917 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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I am not referring to Mrs Nolan's favourite, the Kings Highway; I am referring to the question of corrective services, although that appears lost at the moment due to unilateral and non-consultative decisions made by the Greiner Government, in relation to Junee and Wagga, to my great regret. For a while there was a chance that we could look at extending some compassionate and humanitarian programs in corrective services, have joint public works and look at bridging the gap in the way we operate. It is also becoming increasingly clear in health and in education that we should now go to full-blown regional status in economic development issues, and I encourage that.
MR JENSEN (5.26): I want to raise a couple of points quickly. It is quite clear to many of us that we have the potential here in the ACT to become the education centre of not only Australia but also the south-east Pacific region. We have a highly and well educated work force in the ACT. We have a TAFE system that is in need of some upgrading, but it certainly has a base to build on. We have two universities within this city, both of which have excellent reputations. I think it is appropriate, with our location between the two major population centres in Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, that the ACT and this region become the focus for future development and expansion within Australia.
As my colleague Mr Collaery has already indicated, we have a degree of this sort of industry out at Bruce, at Technology Park. It has taken a while to get under way. We should be looking at helping to expand that. Maybe, if the Government looks at some form of joint ventures, we can get things going in other areas of the ACT, like Gungahlin and Tuggeranong, and provide that sort of focus for the development of this sort of industry within the ACT - industry that is clean and highly acceptable and that relates to the sort of work force that we have here in the ACT.
If the very fast train project could be put back onto the track, so to speak, perhaps our Federal Labor Government could adopt a more lateral approach to the funding of infrastructure development. It is quite possible that the ACT, and Canberra in particular, could become the focus for the development of that most important facility. I have heard the argument put that the possible effect of the VFT on the airlines was one of the reasons why the Federal Government chose to downgrade, to a certain degree, some of the very good ideas and concepts that came from that excellent group of people.
We must bear in mind, of course, the requirement to make sure that all the various environmental issues and problems can be resolved and sorted out in relation to the development of that project. I do not think that is beyond us; we have done it before and I think we can do it again.
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