Page 1930 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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The Territory does not want to stand in the way of Commonwealth initiatives; but, because the area is Territory land, the ACT Government has a very significant interest in planning for its uses and will continue to press for close involvement in any decision making. In the short term we will make the decisions that are appropriate to the protection of the site, the optimum use of the building and the best interests of the electors of Canberra.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (3.55): I do not believe that I need to say a great deal. I must concede that Mr Wood spelled out very precisely and accurately what the situation is in connection with the Acton Peninsula. He covered the history leading up to where we are at the moment; the relationship between the National Capital Planning Authority and the ACT Planning Authority; and the fact that a joint study was undertaken nearly two years ago and has not yet been completed, but the outcome of that is imminent. All of these are matters of fact, and I would have thought that they are all a matter of public record.
Therefore, I was a little concerned when this MPI appeared on my desk this morning, indicating that Mr Moore and Ms Szuty wanted to discuss "the conflicting development proposals". Like the Minister, I knew of none. I was wondering whether there was some secret agenda that I was not aware of; whether there were, in fact, development proposals that were being considered by the Government, or by somebody else, which had not been published. It turns out that this simply is not true.
I think that Mr Moore and Ms Szuty need to be a bit careful about stirring up public emotion on issues like this. They might see themselves as the public conscience, but I suggest that they are not. They are no more concerned about the issues involved with this site than are the members of the Liberal Party or, for that matter, the members of the Labor Party. They start stirring this sort of thing up and talking about, to quote Ms Szuty, the Canberra community's moral claim to Acton Peninsula, whatever that means. I thought that the community had much more than a moral claim; that in fact the land, like all other land in the ACT, was community property. To start bleating about moral rights raises issues that I think are divisive, instead of bringing the community together on these issues. I would think that they, like the rest of us, ought to wait until there are some proposals on the table before they start stirring up public emotions on this issue.
Interestingly enough, despite the difference in our ideologies, there has been a fair convergence of opinion amongst the Labor Party and the Liberal Party on the future intentions in connection with this site. It was the Liberal Party that first spelled out the long-term intentions for this site in terms of retaining it for health related purposes, for convalescence, for rehabilitation and for other uses, for relocating, perhaps, the QEII home for nursing mothers, or even some relocation of Jindalee. These were all things that were spelled out by the Liberal Party two or more years ago. The Labor Party essentially has continued that as a statement of intent. So why Ms Szuty and Mr Moore suddenly start getting concerned about conflicting development proposals, I cannot imagine. If there are any, I would like to hear what they are.
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