Page 3416 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 25 November 1992
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The Labor Party has been entirely inconsistent on the Acton Peninsula. They have a new idea for it now: "Let us put down there a stack of high density homes". They are going to start with two- or three-storey homes; and before we know it there will be a whole series of towers down there similar to the Kingston Tower. Who knows what they are going to do with it? What we do know is that if this motion were to be carried they would at least be directed to carry out the policy they went to the people of Canberra on. Are they going to be happy with that? You can be sure that they will not be. Wayne Berry has already been over to me to say, "Can't we just modify this a little bit? Let us not direct; let us see what we can do to modify this so that we do not actually have to do what is in our policy, so that we have room to move". That, of course, is what they want to do.
Add to that the fact that the National Capital Planning Authority is also trying to get into the act, probably to save their own skins, so that they can be seen to be doing something. They too have a plan for the Acton Peninsula. Basically, they want to take the city of Canberra in a swoop around through university land down to the lake. That university land, of course, is the university's under perpetual lease, and that would require agreement from the university. But at least the National Capital Planning Authority has a long-term strategy. I might not agree with it all, but at least they have it. We know what they are thinking, and they are putting out ideas.
What about the ACT Government? Where is their long-term strategy? They do not have one. They have never had one, and they are unlikely to have one in the future. It will be very interesting to see how the draft Territory Plan, when it becomes a Territory Plan, is modified in order to make it a strategy. The one thing that overwhelmingly came out of the public consultation about the draft Territory Plan was the very message I sent to the Government two hours after I got my embargoed copy in this Assembly: That it had no strategy; that it was a statutory plan, not a strategic plan. We have the same problem here with the Acton Peninsula. They have no idea where they are going or what they are doing. There is just adhockery all over the place as far as the hospital is concerned.
The Minister for Health was kind enough to provide for me a visit to the Woden Valley Hospital, where I was able to look at the procedure that has now taken place to redevelop the hospital. I must say that I appreciated his kind offer to provide that for me. My general feeling, having been through Woden Valley Hospital, was to reinforce the view that it was a mistake to go for the one principal hospital concept; that Gary Humphries and the Liberal Government were conned, in particular by the AMA, on this issue. That is understandable because that is where the Liberals are coming from, and I can understand that. As to Labor being conned - Wayne Berry has often been critical of the AMA - that is another story, and we will probably get a repeat of it here today. In fact, I see that Mr Berry has already circulated an amendment, and no doubt we will have the opportunity to discuss that at a later time.
I am a realist in the sense that, even though I think it was a mistake to close down the Royal Canberra Hospital and move the principal hospital to the Woden Valley site, that has been done and it is not going to be reversed in the foreseeable future. The people of Canberra have pinned their hopes on the Acton Peninsula being used in a very sensible way. Many of them, no doubt, voted for Labor on
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