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(Extension of time granted) . . Page.. 341 ..

Let us look at what will go on at that site. Let us look at what the international competition will bring out. There will be, it is expected, commercial development on that site - office spaces predominantly. There will be office spaces on that site. In the past it has been easy to get things under way by offering office accommodation, but those times have gone. We have a surplus of office accommodation in the ACT right now. Because of the acumen of the business sector, it is not a very large surplus of office accommodation. The business sector has been a lot more canny about it than our Chief Minister, but there is a surplus. There is no projected heavy demand in the future for office accommodation. Not only that; under the terms of our plan, our principles of dispersed development in the ACT, we would be looking for more office accommodation elsewhere. Mr De Domenico now may change his mind; but we would be looking for more office accommodation in Tuggeranong, we would be looking for it in the new town area of Gungahlin, and, of course, there are vacancies at the moment in Woden and in Civic. I cannot see, and I could not as Minister, a projected demand for office accommodation of the size needed to finance the Kingston project for a long time to come.

There would also be retail development. That would be a good factor to provide some part of the financing for the Kingston foreshore development. But what is the demand for retailing now and into the future? We have this Government telling us, and certainly telling the people in Tuggeranong, that we do not need any more retailing space. A retail study that is about to be released, I expect, might tell us that that is the case. Certainly, we have ample retail space at the moment. So, where are we going to have, into the foreseeable future - I am thinking up to the end of the century - such a high demand for retail space that it can be a very substantial part of the funding of this area?

Look at the proportion of cultural space that might be incorporated into the Kingston development. A lot has been said about that, and it seems that it needs to be a significant part of that proposal. The Chief Minister has made something of it. In the same speeches, and in other speeches, she has also said that Civic is going to be the cultural heart of the city; that we are doing wonderful things with culture in Civic. Certainly, there is the theatre development, and there is the cultural and heritage centre development, and they are important. What cultural facilities are we going to have in Kingston in the next few years? (Extension of time granted) I am the first to support an expansion of cultural facilities. Who is going to provide the new galleries, perhaps, or the new theatres that we would seek to go in there? That demand will come, but I think that any clear thinking person would see that that is a long time into the future yet. So, in those areas - cultural, retail and commercial - I cannot see where we will find partners in joint ventures who agree that they can put in substantial amounts of money to fund that development.

There is a demand for the other component that will be part of Kingston, and that is residential. It would be highly attractive for residential development. We have a slump at the moment, but that will pass rapidly enough. In the time that anything will be built, yes, I certainly can see that you could have a very saleable residential area. But that is to be only part of it, I understand.

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