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Canberra Times . . Page.. 140 ..

Ms Follett: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order. I would like to draw Mrs Carnell's attention to what the question was. It was to the extent of the land involved, and whether there was an agreement on that.

MR SPEAKER: Pray continue, Chief Minister.

MRS CARNELL: The extent of the land involved is quite clearly set out. When the final agreements are reached - - - 

Ms Follett: Where?

Mr Berry: Where?

MRS CARNELL: On Acton Peninsula, it is back to the ANU site. It does not include West Basin. Acton Peninsula; back to ANU; no West Basin.

Mr Berry: Where is the piece of paper?

Mr Wood: Why do you not take the community into your confidence?

MRS CARNELL: We have made that quite clear time and time again. That is what the Acton Peninsula site involves. At this stage we, as I said, are in the business of sorting out timeframes - when the Commonwealth requires certain bits of Acton Peninsula to be made available, and when we require bits of Kingston to be made available to us. That is the basis of the negotiations that at this stage are happening at departmental levels between the Commonwealth and the ACT. It is a very appropriate process. We also will be very keen to see what comes out of the Assembly committee that is looking at this issue as well. I think it is appropriate to quote from the Canberra Times of 19 October 1994, where it says:

The Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, said yesterday that she had had “informal discussions” with the Federal Government on this issue, but nothing had been finalised. “We certainly will be pursuing it, a land swap with the Commonwealth ...”

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. The Chief Minister seems to be in a very poor bargaining position. We still do not have an agreement. We have all the commitments in the world from the Chief Minister and no agreement. She is not in a strong position at all. Why ask an Assembly committee?

MR SPEAKER: Mr Wood, ask the question, please.

MR WOOD: The Chief Minister would have signed up before the Assembly committee can report. My supplementary question goes further.

MR SPEAKER: Thank you.

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