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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (5 December) . . Page.. 4484 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

I believe that the Minister's responses this afternoon are largely adequate. They are adequate enough for me to say that there is nothing that is going to be achieved by having this matter referred to the committee and the committee studying it in detail. I know that there are a number of members in this Assembly who do not necessarily work just to outcomes. They are quite comfortable dealing with processes much more than outcomes. That is my perception of the way they work. I prefer to have a look at the outcomes and put the effort in where I think I can make a difference.

As far as this goes, I thank the Minister for his response, and basically I have accepted that the committee will not look into it further. The responsibility falls where it actually belongs, on the Minister, and he has to make his decision based on the evidence that is before him. I hope that his decision is enhanced by the questions that the committee asked him to respond to, because he has more evidence before him. It may well be that, as a result of the issues raised by Ms Horodny, Mr Humphries also asks for further pieces of information that address some of those extra issues that have been raised by Ms Horodny. In the end the decision is with Mr Humphries and the Government, and that is, I think, the appropriate place for it under these circumstances.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education and Training and Minister for Sport and Recreation) (4.26): As one of the members for Ginninderra, and also as the Sport Minister, I welcome this project. This project had its genesis a long time back, some 13 or so years back. I have seen the signs there for that period of time as I have, on occasions, driven past the site.

The proposal for the construction of an enclosed oval and club at McKellar was first put forward in 1985, and the development is consistent with the very long established land use policy for the site. Apparently, the NCDC asked the Belconnen Soccer Club to prepare a development plan for the McKellar site in 1986, after a 1983 application to lease the Hawker oval was rejected by the ACT administration. My friend and colleague Mr Hird apparently was one of the driving forces behind all that that long ago, so he knows a lot about the history of these things. I understand, Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, that the first concept plans were submitted to the Government in 1987. Certainly, the Belconnen Soccer Club has never made any secret of its plans. Once the plans were prepared in 1988 they were circulated to households in the North Belconnen area.

The Belconnen Soccer Club, established some 25 years ago, opened its licensed club at Hawker 16 years ago. It has a significant current membership of over 3,000 and a significant asset base. It has poured a lot of money into local soccer over the last 10 years and has done very well in recent times by winning the first grade premiership and a number of other premierships at senior levels. It has provided support facilities for a wide range of community projects and institutions over the years, apart from soccer, including such sports as hockey, golf, darts, basketball, weight-lifting, cricket, individual sportsmen and sportswomen, and girls and boys representing the ACT and Australia. It has also supported community organisations such as Calvary Hospital, the University of Canberra, Cranleigh Special School, Evatt Primary and Belconnen High, and has provided a home base for Rotary, Lions, View and other community groups. It is very much a community club.

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