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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 8 Hansard (26 June) . . Page.. 2208 ..

MR DE DOMENICO: Well, my advice, Mr Moore, is that that is not correct. The authority will not usurp the role of the Department of Education, nor will it usurp the role of the ACT Planning Authority. It is worth revisiting, in fact, some of the background that led the Government to legislate to establish the authority. Gungahlin is the first of Canberra's new towns to be constructed since self-government. It presented an opportunity to do something different, as everybody said. The Government was mindful of a perception in the electorate that, despite all the planning efforts of previous decades that had largely served the city well, the development of the Gungahlin Town Centre could and would embody new thinking and new directions - those of the Gungahlin community. I think that is important. All speakers have acknowledged the fact that this is a process that has been going on for quite some time. Can I acknowledge also the work done by Mr Wood as the previous planning Minister; it started under him. I have been involved, along with Mr Kaine, Mr Berry and others, on various committees that have been looking at this issue for quite a number of years.

The Government makes no bones about the fact that notwithstanding that the Bill was introduced only a week ago - and, yes, I acknowledge that a week is a short time to look at the technicalities in the Bill itself - it is about time that we got on with building the town centre.

Mr Moore: Do it.

MR DE DOMENICO: Mr Moore says, "Do it".

Mr Moore: Nothing stops you doing it now.

MR DE DOMENICO: With respect, Mr Speaker, all speakers in this debate were listened to in silence. I just want to suggest to Mr Moore that he extend the same courtesy to me in summing up this debate. I know that Mr Moore does not agree with what every other member has said in this debate. However, he could at least give us the courtesy of sitting down and listening to everybody else. The idea of an authority to oversee the development of the Gungahlin Town Centre was not exclusively the Government's agenda, either this Government or the previous Government; it arose from the community consultations. It is as simple as that. The consultations were the most extensive ever conducted in the ACT, under both governments, on a draft variation to the Territory Plan. That is what it was; it was a draft variation to the Territory Plan. The message was clear. The community wanted a town centre based on the concept of an urban village.

The second point that needs to be made is that what the community said it wanted is being acknowledged by independent retail studies; that shopping malls, as we know them, have their limitations. People want and expect the Gungahlin Town Centre to be a focal point of their community, rather than just a place to go to shop. Like Ms Follett, I happen to enjoy going shopping at the local malls that we have now - a lot of people, a lot of noise, a lot of cover. That is a personal opinion. Ms Tucker disagrees; that is fine. Further, the community expressed a strong desire that the centre should not be dominated by one owner and that it not include an internal mall.

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