Page 1928 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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I think it is worth saying at this point that I get a great number of comments from people - and they come from other parts of this chamber - to the effect that, whether under the Liberals or the Labor Party, this site is going to be sold off to some big developer; that it is going to be a casino; that it is going to be a resort; that it is going to be all sorts of things. There is some suspicion in an element of the community that we have such proposals in mind. I had a conversation with the head of my department a while ago. He indicated that in the 3 years or thereabouts that he has been in that position, and probably before that - but that is the period of his experience, and that certainly is the period in which the future of the hospital has been discussed or when there has been any option for anything else - there has not been one such approach made to him, and certainly there has been no such approach made by him. So let me make it clear to the community that there are no hidden developers anywhere around Acton Peninsula.
I want to comment on the charrette. First of all, let me say clearly that this is no part of anything the ACT Government has to do. I understand that the Planning Authority was asked to contribute $30,000 of the $60,000 cost of this enterprise, and, very sensibly, they declined to do so. It was not something we wanted to be involved in. I became aware of this - - -
Mr Moore: Your name is all over it. So is that of the Planning Authority.
MR WOOD: It is certainly used in there and I would think it is used in ways in which I would not wish it to be used. I will come to that in a while. I became aware of this when an old friend of mine rang and said that he is doing this. He asked for my views about what ought to go on the peninsula. I might indicate that the first thing I said to him was, "Well, health facilities, of course". That was certainly done. I took the trouble then to get a copy of this and I took exception to one of the paragraphs that Mr Moore raised and which is directed at the people who may participate. It says:
Your involvement ... will directly affect the development of a planning and urban design strategy ...
I took exception to that and the way in which I believe that the role of the ACT Planning Authority, the ACT Government and the ACT population was degraded by that comment. Mr Moore said that this, perhaps, is a cheroot. I think a more appropriate description might be "a charade".
Let me put clearly on the record what is happening and what the processes are. What we are seeing here is the beginning of a process for planning in this area, a process that will involve full public consultation. At the outset, let me go back over some of the facts of this issue. The first is that the planning of the Acton Peninsula is a Commonwealth responsibility. It is a designated area and in planning terms it comes under the control of the National Capital Planning Authority, just as City Hill does. The uses identified in the National Capital Plan are "community facility" - therefore a hospital - "open space" and "roads". The northern part of the site, that is, the ANU area, is shown as educational.
Any proposals which are not consistent with these policies would require a change to the National Capital Plan and, potentially, an environmental impact statement. The consultation processes inherent in a change to that plan provide a mechanism for the ACT Government to ensure that, in planning terms, its views
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