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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (22 May) . . Page.. 1594 ..

MR WOOD: No, you were not. I have read this very carefully. It is well annotated, Mr De Domenico. You should go back and read every word of what you said here in this Assembly and out in the community. Let us have a look through that process. Let me point out that the opposition to the Greens' motion today does not mean that we are supporting the expansion of the Hyperdome and Woden Plaza.

Mrs Carnell: Ms McRae just said that you did.

Mr De Domenico: Ms McRae just said that you did.

MR WOOD: No. You were not listening carefully enough.

Mr De Domenico: I was, very carefully.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MR WOOD: It does not mean that we will either support it or reject it. There are still processes to be worked through. Ms McRae pointed out the very good points that were presented, but there is still more to be done. There are committees of this Assembly, and this Assembly itself, to make decisions on those matters. I do not think that carrying this motion will solve the problem. This is not the time to deal with it in this way.

MRS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (11.48): Mr Speaker, I was very interested to hear Ms McRae make this comment: "Roll on 24-hour trading. That is what we want. Let Tuggeranong and Woden expand as quickly as possible".

Ms McRae: Yes. Yes.

MRS CARNELL: She says, "Yes, yes, yes". Quite seriously, Mr Speaker, that is a formula for disaster. As much as it is what Leda and Lend Lease would love us to do, to have 24-hour trading and let Tuggeranong and Woden expand as much as they want to immediately would be a disaster. The reason why this Government in opposition supported a moratorium while we had a whole look at what the impact of these sorts of extensions would be on both the social networks and the retailing networks in the valley was that that sort of an approach would almost overnight take out all of our local centres. Ms McRae was quite happy to sit there and say, "Yes, yes, that is what we want". Well, it is not what the Government wants.

I think it is very important to quote from the Liberal Party local shops policy that we went to the last election with. I am happy to table this after I quote from it. The Liberal Party said this, quite definitely:

Unlike Labor, we will not stand back and watch the ACT's neighbourhood centres die. These centres are an important component of Canberra's planning, and provide both a community focus and service for our suburbs.

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