Page 2610 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 24 August 1993
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The final recommendation that I want to comment on, Madam Speaker, is recommendation 18. It refers specifically to a Tuggeranong youth resource centre. The committee was unanimous in its decision, based on what is happening in Tuggeranong - the increasing population, the difficulties that are being encountered by youth there - that something needs to be done quickly to provide a youth resource centre of some kind in Tuggeranong to assist our youth, to give them something to do other than being on the street; that the Government needs to take this into account and quickly do something there.
I do not believe that there was a single dissenting voice on the committee, and I do not believe that there will be a single dissenting voice in this Assembly. I hope that there will not be a single dissenting voice on the part of the Government when it comes to consider these recommendations. I believe that yet again this report demonstrates how easy it is for a committee to come up with not only a bipartisan approach but a multipartisan approach. If we sit down seriously and genuinely as a group of people and try to figure out what is best for this community, we can come up with a good report about which there is no dissenting voice. This is yet another case of that being done when people of goodwill sit around and discuss the problems together. I think this report is one that the Assembly should adopt without question. I commend it, as the chairman does, to the Assembly.
I would also like to endorse the chairman's comments in connection with our committee secretary. I think that the committee is indeed blessed to have a committee secretary of the calibre of Rod Power. He does an excellent job. He has the ability to sift out the relevant from the irrelevant and to put together a report which really expresses the views of the members of the committee. It is yet another outstanding example of that, and I very much appreciate his contribution. With that, Madam Speaker, as the chairman has done, I commend this report to the Assembly for its adoption.
MS SZUTY (8.24): Madam Speaker, the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee's report on the 1993-94 new capital works program is a report critical of current practices and processes. I do not propose to comment on each of the recommendations made - there are some 18 of them, as has been pointed out - as both Mr Lamont and Mr Kaine have covered some of the issues in their remarks. However, I do wish to pay attention to particular recommendations, notes and comments in the report. Recommendation 7 is:
That the Capital Works Program include a status report on all projects carried over from previous years, identified by project.
Mr Kaine has already referred to this particular recommendation. It is significant in that it implies that the committee is seeking continuity of information and feedback about how government decisions, once reached, are implemented and how they fit into the overall picture of capital works construction for the year. Timeliness of completion will also be scrutinised to ensure that projects are not unduly delayed and that community needs continue to be met. It is interesting to note that the membership of the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee has been constant since the committee's formation in March 1992, and I believe that members have a genuine and continuing interest in works scrutinised at an earlier time which we are keen to see brought to fruition.
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