Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (22 May) . . Page.. 1587 ..

MS McRAE (11.23): I rise to oppose both Mr Moore's amendment and Ms Horodny's motion. But, in saying that, I would like to give Ms Horodny some comfort. I believe that she probably read this speech in Hansard before she moved her motion. I am quite aware that when the Liberals moved against the expansion of the Hyperdome it was done with a caveat, and the caveat was that further study be undertaken. I have no problem with that. Of course, it was the argument that was put around it that was so interesting. I am sure that this is what Ms Horodny read before she put her motion. Mrs Carnell said:

Again, we come back to things that really matter in this city, and that is things like 2,000 youth unemployed and an unknown number of women who would normally get jobs in their local shopping centres, who would normally be able to pick up some part-time work when the kids are at school ... where will the jobs come from?

She continued:

That is not even considering the social issues around allowing our small suburban shopping centres to go to the wall. There is the issue of Canberra's ageing. We know that in percentage terms Canberra is ageing at a faster rate than other cities. What are Canberra's ageing people going to do to get down to the Hyperdome if they do not have a local shopping centre?

I imagine that Ms Horodny took a lot of comfort from that, but now we have a slightly different tune.

Mrs Carnell: No, not at all.

MS McRAE: You will get your chance to argue all of that. It is all right; I am on your side. Do not get too excited. But the differences in attitude, the differences in opinions expressed, the differences in the interests of the local youth and the young mums are of great interest to us and have to be noted. What we have here today is a debate that comes after a great deal of work has been done. I believe that all the issues that have been raised about Woden were raised about Tuggeranong, and I believe that there were other interests that prevented people from supporting the expansion of the Tuggeranong Hyperdome. I do believe that there is room for the Tuggeranong expansion and the Woden expansion. I believe this, for a range of reasons.

Despite all Mr Moore's calls for checks and balances, I think Mr Moore's arguments are disingenuous because the checks and balances are there. Woden Plaza management could not stand up and say, "Tomorrow we are doubling our space". They had to go through a statutory process which this Assembly put in place. Dare I say that it was mostly at the instigation of Mr Moore that all this business began way back when Mr Moore ran exactly the same line about checks and balances, the public getting their say and correct input.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .