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Hansard . . Page.. 1374 ..

The other point that still sticks in my mind and that Mr Osborne goes on about is the one that Mr Connolly referred to about the closure of the Red Hill school to protect schools in the valley. On the policy that Mr Osborne proposed at that time, given the vacant space in Red Hill school, he would close up to six schools in Tuggeranong. The policy was quite the same.

I thought that Mr De Domenico was also rather rude. Arising from the retail study that is now complete, he had something to say about shopping in the valley. At the time, when Mr De Domenico and Mrs Carnell were on this side of the Assembly, they said, “Oh, no more shopping; we do not need any more. We are overserviced; no more shopping in Tuggeranong”. I remember Mrs Carnell going to a meeting in the Churches Centre in Tuggeranong - she will remember it well - at which she told that audience, “We do not need any more facilities”. Subsequently, the Liberals said, “Oh, we need a retail study. We will do our own retail study”.

Mr Kaine: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: I am not sure that Mr Wood is not being disingenuous. I was at the meeting in question and what was said was that we would have no more shopping facilities until we had done a review of retail facilities in Tuggeranong. That review has been done.

MR WOOD: There was a blanket no. That came later, Mr Kaine.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

Mr De Domenico: Tell the whole truth, Mr Wood.

MR WOOD: I remember very clearly, because I was the Minister. I was having to stand up here and say, “We will follow a process”. But, no; the people then on this side of the house wanted to say, “We are overserviced; there is too much”. Read the Hansard, Mr De Domenico.

Members interjected.

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Wood has the floor.

MR WOOD: On the other hand, let me thank Mr De Domenico for giving a long list of what the Labor Government had achieved in Tuggeranong. He read it out in great detail. It showed well the attention that the Labor Government had given to Tuggeranong.

Mr Kaine - to include you in this, Mr Kaine - was also rather rude. Mr Kaine stood up in a statesmanlike manner, which he can do now that he has been consigned to the backbench, and said, “We need a cooperative approach. We do not need to be arguing about this. Let us all get together with the bureaucrats and identify the gaps and come up with solutions”. What a wonderful approach! But, of course, the rudeness is related to the fact that when he and his colleagues were on this side of the Assembly, just six months or so ago, that was never their approach. They never proposed that approach. It was attack, attack, attack; no matter what.

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