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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2051 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

The committee was told that forward design funds have been committed and a design team has been established, with a concept design to be ready at the end of this month. It is still the case that all the committee has seen of this is what was published on 23 May in the Canberra Times, those conceptual studies.

Mr Speaker, it is now time to take stock of where we are up to. Taking all things into account, the PEC considers that the Government should establish a management authority to oversight the whole of the Civic Square work, linking all the present and proposed buildings into one management structure. I think that is the critical recommendation that comes out of this statement, Mr Speaker - that there should be a single management structure that deals with this whole area and all these issues in order to ensure that Civic Square is appropriately developed.

We also believe, Mr Speaker, that such a management structure should include representation from this Assembly. I believe that the appropriate person is you, Mr Speaker, or your nominee. Such a single management structure should be established as soon as possible to ensure that there is an integrated design. It is not just a matter of getting some design concepts up first and then having it considered later by this single management structure. It should be in place from the beginning. In some ways that would compare favourably to the way in which this Assembly in which we sit today was arranged. In the initial instance the group who had an interest in it was pulled together. It was involved in the conceptual issues from the beginning. Mr Speaker, I think most of us look forward to the idea of ensuring that these different and disparate sums of money ready to be spent on Civic Square can be spent in an integrated way, and the most effective way to do that is through that structure that we have suggested.

Mr Speaker, this Civic Square issue has a very long saga. There has always been interest by the Planning and Environment Committee and the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee because we recognise that the focus of this part of Civic as a cultural arts centre, which includes the sort of role that the Assembly plays as part of the cultural life of Canberra, is critical. That is why we believe that it must be dealt with in the most effective possible way.

This statement, Mr Speaker, is not designed to be critical of the Minister, but rather to suggest how we should be moving this issue forward. The critical comments that have been made over the previous six months or maybe even a year about the suggestion of that $5m cost to vacate North Building while construction is proceeding still stand; but, generally, we know that the Minister was considering that. We believe it is appropriate now to take this issue forward. I hope that the Government will respond in the spirit in which this statement is made.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General, Minister for Arts and Heritage and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning): Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a statement on the subject that Mr Moore just raised.

Leave granted.

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