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

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3341 ..

Mr Moore: No. We are talking about your consultation and your promises to the people of Canberra which you have been breaking.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS CARNELL: What we are doing, Mr Speaker - and I agree - is making decisions. There are times when governments have to make decisions. What you do is weigh up the facts. Right now, I believe the absolute ultimate for Canberra is jobs. If we can make decisions that will create jobs in this city, protect the environment and make sure that we can get new tourists and so on to this city, then, quite seriously, I think this Assembly should say, "Congratulations", because that is exactly what should be done.

There are no problems whatsoever in making sure that all of our planning requirements are followed; and they should be. All of our planning requirements, both NCA's and ours, require a level of consultation. We have gone through the NCA approval process on the concrete slab; it has all been done.

Mr Moore: But what about the people of Canberra, Kate? Remember those you promised you would consult? Do you remember?

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS CARNELL: The reality, Mr Speaker, is that government is about making decisions when the benefits outweigh the negatives. I am sorry; I am not willing to step away from that. I believe that is the absolute bottom line. Mr Moore made a comment that we had somehow indicated that maybe the reason that we did not consult was that it would have been knocked off. I think the comment that was made, in that particular exchange with a staff member of mine, from Mr Moore was, "Yes, we probably would have knocked it off". "We probably would have knocked it off", he said. Great; that really does show something. That just shows where some people in this Assembly are coming from.

Mr Moore: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Mrs Carnell is putting into my mouth words that simply are not there. If she had been here during the debate, instead of off wherever she was, she would have heard me say, "My preferred option would have been for Bruce", not to knock it off. What nonsense!

MR SPEAKER: Mr Moore, there is no point of order, but you have made your point.

MRS CARNELL: He has. He spoke, really. He did not really make a point of order; but that is fine. Mr Speaker, I accept that Bruce Stadium may have been an option for this particular futsal event. The whole point of this exercise was for it to be part of Floriade, to have a multipurpose facility for use right there where Canberrans can see it, where tourists -people who come to see those sporting and cultural facilities - can actually see Canberra and can see what a beautiful city we are living in.

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