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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 1 Hansard (20 February) . . Page.. 36 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

To be frank, I do not believe that we could have done anything else to prevent a large national chain from getting hold of that site, short of simply barring them from entry to the auction, which I think would have breached government bidding policies and tendering processes, and probably breached the Trade Practices Act as well. I am very proud that the Government has now released that site. It would have been nice to have it go to a business other than Woolworths; but, unfortunately, Woolworths paid the most money. It is up to the Government to maximise its return within certain parameters, and it has done that. I look forward to the swift creation of a shop on that site.

I make one last point. There was a suggestion that it might not have happened at this stage. I gather that there is some suggestion that it should have been delayed in order to make sure that other businesses elsewhere in Tuggeranong were not threatened. To suggest that people in the southern part of Tuggeranong should be shopping in the town centre, for example, or at Chisholm, which is where the nearest group centre is in Tuggeranong, is like saying to the people in Dickson that they should shop in Civic rather than going to the local Dickson shops. That is quite silly. It is quite plain that the people in that part of Tuggeranong deserve those shops.

I must say that I was intrigued by the contradictory calls coming from the Labor Party on this question. Mr Wood told me that I should have speeded up the process. I had a letter from one person, who is the Labor Party candidate for Namadgi at this election, saying, "Could I urge you to review your proposed auction date from mid-January to February or early March". So the Labor Party said, "Go faster, go faster", but it also said, "Go slower, go slower". I cannot work out what they wanted in that scenario, so I will leave the Labor Party to one side in this game, as they usually are, and say simply that I and the Government are very proud that that site is now available and can be developed for the benefit of the people of southern Tuggeranong.

MS HORODNY: The point I was making, Mr Humphries, is that, if that site had been subdivided, then local small businesses could have had a chance to tender for the site.

MR SPEAKER: Is this a supplementary question or a statement, Ms Horodny?

MS HORODNY: My supplementary question is: Why was the site sold as one large unit, which left the local small businesses out of the bidding process?

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, there seems to me to be a need for a supermarket facility on that site, and that constitutes two-and-a-half thousand of the three-and-a-half thousand square metres this site will occupy.

Mr Moore: Not if it is a 1,500 square metre style of supermarket.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, it is two-and-a-half thousand square metres. You could have had an even smaller supermarket, I grant you. You could have had a 1,500 or 1,000 square metre supermarket. There are something in the order of 10,000 people living in that part of Tuggeranong. I do not think a 1,000 square metre supermarket would cater to 10,000 people.

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