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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (7 December) . . Page.. 2777 ..

MR MOORE (11.22), in reply: Mr Speaker, when one brings down a report, it is refreshing to see a government response to the recommendations that says, "Agreed, agreed, agreed". I think that is a positive response.

Ms McRae: It is, to your reports.

MR MOORE: Ms McRae says "your reports". I am very proud of the fact that I chaired the committee, Ms McRae; but it was a unanimous report by your colleague Mr Berry, Ms Horodny, Mr Kaine and me. In a sense, it is my report, but only in the sense that there is ownership by each of us. We work particularly hard on the Planning and Environment Committee to get a unanimous report, as indeed I understand almost all committees do. I believe that, if we get a unanimous report, then we are much more likely to get an effective response from the Government.

Mr Speaker, I could digress, as Mr Wood did, and deal with some of the issues in North Watson and some of the issues associated with Justice Stein's report on the administration of the ACT leasehold system, but I think it is appropriate for us to wait until that comes back to the Assembly and then deal with those issues thoroughly. Like Mr Wood, I have read through the Stein report once. I am going through it now in finer detail, looking at the full ramifications of what it says. I would like to emphasise that the Stein report is linked inextricably with this report on the Starlight Drive-In site because it was out of issues raised in respect of the Starlight Drive-In site and a couple of other areas that the Stein report arose.

Mr Speaker, it is important to emphasise that the committee recommended that the Starlight Drive-In site development could go ahead, and it is appropriate for the Minister to facilitate it going ahead in the light of the recommendations on how the lease should be handled. But it is also important for us to ensure that we recognise that the Stein report is about looking forward, not about looking back. It is about ensuring that the problems with the administration of the leasehold system and with planning can now be dealt with through appropriate structures. That is really what the report is about. Justice Stein himself said that he did not attempt to go back and try to dig up anything to do with corruption or any of those areas. What he wanted to do was to identify where there were problems in administration and problems with planning, and he did identify those.

Mr Wood: But he did go back. How many files did he examine?

MR MOORE: I get an interjection from Mr Wood about how many files he examined. Yes, he did go back. He went back specifically to look at files, to look at how things were administered, not to look for corruption. He said that himself, but I think we can come back to that in further debate.

MR SPEAKER: Might I suggest, Mr Moore, that we try to restrict ourselves to your report.

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