Page 3785 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 8 November 1994
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I made an announcement last week that the release of 800 blocks would be delayed for five months in the year after next. Let us put that into context. That is the sort of long-term planning that we need to do; that is the sort of adjustment that becomes inevitable from time to time. It may be necessary, in the space of some months, to increase the supply; and, if necessary, that will be done. We continue to monitor the need for land. We do it carefully. I believe that, over quite a period, we have been able to manage a very adequate supply of land to meet our demand.
Acton Peninsula - Development
MR KAINE: Madam Speaker, in responding to an earlier question, the Chief Minister referred to some eminent personages, namely, the Prime Minister and Gareth Evans in particular, to justify the view that Acton Peninsula was always a part of the plan for the development of a national museum. That, of course, is consistent with a statement that she made to the Canberra Times on 19 October where she was quoted as saying:
We certainly will be pursuing it, a land swap with the Commonwealth ... They won't get the site for nothing.
Only six days before that statement, the Chief Minister assured a constituent in a letter:
The Government is not presently pursuing an exchange of Acton Peninsula and West Basin for either cash or land at another location.
Was the Chief Minister being honest with the Canberra Times on 19 October, or was she being honest with the constituent only six days before, on the 13th?
MS FOLLETT: Madam Speaker, Mr Kaine is quite wrong in the opening statement he made in that question, when he intimated that I had always envisaged Acton Peninsula as part of a national museum. I never have. It is quite incorrect to say so. In fact, for some years the Government, in making submissions to the National Capital Planning Authority on our view of the use of Acton Peninsula, has consistently put forward a view that it should have a mixed use and should include things like health facilities, which we are committed to, and even housing. A variety of uses was our preferred outcome for Acton Peninsula. As I have said before, the National Capital Planning Authority has planning control over Acton Peninsula. It is well known also that, for some years, they have envisaged Acton Peninsula being used for a national cultural institution. That view of the NCPA has been pretty well broadcast in the community consultation process, which they are conducting.
Madam Speaker, what I said to my constituent in the letter that Mr Kaine referred to was absolutely accurate. As a government, we have never pursued a land swap for Acton Peninsula; and only since the Federal Government announced its plans for Acton Peninsula has the issue been at all relevant to us. We have said what we thought Acton Peninsula was suited for, and we have said so repeatedly.
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