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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 5 (Hansard) 16 May) . . Page.. 1383 ..

MR DE (continuing):

As announced last week, on 8 May, the Government is currently considering the feasibility of relocating offices of the Department of Health and Community Care to Gungahlin Town Centre. As I mentioned before, you need a road before you can get a building, so we will do the road first, Mr Speaker. The Government is committed to expanding employment and business opportunities in town centres, and the placement of ACT Government offices in the Gungahlin Town Centre at this early stage of development would provide a major boost to the area.

In another first for town centre development, Mr Speaker, cultural planning is to be an integral part of the development of the Gungahlin central area. The interim board has recommended the establishment of an Interim Art Advisory Committee for Gungahlin. The role of this committee will be to advise the board on the implementation of a range of principles and policies for cultural planning. The aim is to actively stimulate the community to develop its own unique identity and to collaborate in public place-making.

The Government, therefore, has already made substantial progress towards delivering a town centre with facilities that will meet the community's wants and needs. The implementation process will continue when we introduce into the Assembly the enabling legislation for the permanent development authority. We propose to establish a statutory authority which will be responsible for carrying out the development of the Gungahlin central area in accordance with the principles and policies set out in the Territory Plan and the Territory's land release and retail policies. The authority, which will be primarily funded via revenue from land sales in the central area, will be required to perform its functions in accordance with prudent commercial principles. The strategies and objectives of the authority will be set out in a statement of corporate intent which will be tabled in the Assembly. Membership of the authority will be along similar lines to that of the interim board. We expect to advertise within the next couple of weeks for the position of chief executive officer.

The people of Gungahlin have already been closely involved in the development of their town centre and there are high expectations of the outcome. The Government is committed to ensuring that the proper focus is given to delivering a vital and vibrant centre which will set the standard for the Territory and for the rest of Australia. I present a copy of this statement, and I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

MR WOOD (4.14): I move:

That the debate be now adjourned.

I hope that we get around to talking about it soon because there are some big problems in that.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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