Page 4251 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 29 November 1994
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That all words after "That" be omitted and the following words be substituted: "the Assembly notes the report of the Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Infrastructure and requests the Government to approve that part of the draft Variation to the Territory Plan for Lyneham, section 67, block 1, part (Yowani Golf Club) applying to the golf driving range area thus varying the existing Land Use Policy for this part of Yowani Golf Club from 'Restricted Access Recreation' to 'Residential'".
My amendment is all about commonsense. Mr Berry, if you read my amendment carefully and if you knew the facts of the matter, you would realise that the amendment stipulates that it is an area which has no impact whatsoever on the striped legless lizard. That is according to the Planning Authority. If we are going to be consistent and allow part-development - as we will perhaps be doing later tonight in respect of Symonston, where we have allowed development of one-third of the area, which is not affected by, in that case, the earless dragon - we have the opportunity to say, "If it is good enough to allow Symonston to go ahead, because it is a development that the Government desperately wants and needs, why is it not good enough also to allow part-development on the Yowani Golf Club?".
If I erred, Mr Berry, in not insisting on full development of Yowani last Friday, then I was wrong. I do not want to divulge too much of what is discussed at committees; but even Mr Berry, as chairman of that committee, would perhaps concur that, on the Friday before that, every member of that committee except one person was prepared to debate the Yowani issue. The compromise position was that we would give that person an extra week to get themselves up to scratch with the issue and then we would finalise it last Friday. Since then, apparently, there has been a change of mind.
Mr Berry: But you agreed with us.
MR DE DOMENICO: There was a change of mind. Strictly speaking, it was a unanimous report. Therefore, let it be said by Mr Berry that everybody agreed with every single word of that report. I am now saying, "Here is a compromise position that people have thought of since that decision was made on Friday". I ask whether this Assembly is flexible enough, when it sees a compromise position which makes a lot of commonsense, to say, "Hey! We were wrong. We will change our minds". It makes us human, for heaven's sake. Are we flexible enough for that? I believe that we ought to be flexible enough to do that.
If members look very closely at my amendment they will see that it says that we are allowing development on that area of the Yowani Golf Club estate which, according to the experts in the field - whom we believed in the case of Gungahlin and in the case of Symonston - is not affected at all by the legless lizard problem. So, Mr Berry, your smart comments about people being close to the ground and respecting legless lizards was uncalled for.
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