Page 3418 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 25 November 1992
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or another three years. That is why you have the angst out at Watson; that is why you have the angst out at Belconnen. People do not have the opportunity to see the big picture, to see the Government's direction, the community direction, for the people of Canberra. I challenge the Minister to come up with a better answer than to say, "You will be happy with the direction of the Territory Plan when it comes out". I have grave doubts about whether that will be the case. That is something that remains to be seen when it is tabled.
Madam Speaker, in moving this motion we are putting the Government on notice. We are saying, "Why don't you deliver for once to the people of Canberra what you promised to deliver?". There is your challenge.
MS SZUTY (11.24): I believe that the reason for today's debate on this motion is to clarify the positions of the ACT Government, the Territory Planning Authority and the National Capital Planning Authority on what will be sited on the Acton Peninsula and West Basin area. We know that the ACT Government gave a commitment to certain health facilities on the site during the election campaign. These were "rehabilitation and aged care services, a convalescent facility, the Queen Elizabeth II Nursing Home for Mothers and Babies, a hospice and the Chair of Community Medicine from the Clinical School". Even Mr Kaine, when he was Chief Minister, ordered that the proposed launching of the joint study for future uses of Acton include mention of health facilities on the site. That study has taken two years to complete and still we have a major conflict brewing over what the site will eventually house.
In more recent times, we have heard the Minister for Health, Mr Berry, further articulate the ACT Government's policy on Acton. The ACT Government has had to do that because of what the National Capital Planning Authority is doing with regard to Acton Peninsula. At page 20 of the National Capital Plan, the stated aims are:
Lake Burley Griffin and Foreshores should remain predominantly as open space parklands while providing for existing and additional National Capital and community uses in a manner consistent with the area's national symbolism and role as the city's key visual and landscape element.
Further:
Lake Burley Griffin and Foreshores are intended to provide a range of recreational, educational and symbolic experiences of the National Capital in both formal and informal park settings with particular landscape characters or themes.
It seems that the National Capital Planning Authority has unlimited resources when it comes to the future consideration of Acton Peninsula, and there is evidence for that statement. Firstly, the charette competition was an invitation to architecture and design schools around Australia to become involved in a design competition for the area. Around 30 designs were submitted. A seminar was held over a weekend to discuss the entries put forward, as part of what the National Capital Planning Authority says will be extensive community forums to enhance further debate about the proposals.
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