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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (13 May) . . Page.. 1275 ..

Mr Berry: You have strung yourself up.

MR SPEAKER: Order! It is not McMuffin time.

Mr Hird: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would like to draw your attention to standing order 39 and ask you to rule accordingly.

MR SPEAKER: Yes, I am aware of it, and I uphold the point of order.

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, it does not take a genius to work out that you could certainly see competition occurring between, say, a pizza outlet or a fish and chip shop and a McDonald's or something like that at Chisholm; but there is no competition between such an outlet and a chemist, or a supermarket, or a real estate agent, or a newsagent, all of which, I understand, are at the Chisholm shops. All those things are enhanced.

Mr Whitecross: Maybe you should go there and check.

MR HUMPHRIES: I go there very often, Mr Whitecross, as it happens. My wife used to live in Chisholm and I often went to the Chisholm shops. I know that centre very well. I know that most of the outlets there are places which would be enhanced by having a fast food outlet. You talk to most small centres in this city - - -

Mr Whitecross: Sure. Why do you not go to Chisholm shops and have a look?

MR HUMPHRIES: He has not listened to a word I have said, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: I cannot compel them to do that, Mr Minister.

MR HUMPHRIES: No, indeed, Mr Speaker; but you wonder why he asked the question in the first place. Mr Whitecross would not have a clue because he has never worked in the retail sector. You ask most small centres in this town and they would say that a fast food outlet like a McDonald's is an asset to a local centre because it brings people in. People come to buy hamburgers and they come to buy pizzas, and they stop and they do their shopping at the same time. Mr Speaker, if this man opposite had any idea he would realise what a foolish thing he was saying.

He also asked me what study we had done. Mr Speaker, I can refer to a study that was, in fact, commissioned by Mr Wood. The Ibecon study found, in 1996, that there was - - -

Mr Wood: You have ignored that. You would not want to quote that for anything you have done.

MR HUMPHRIES: Not on this occasion, Mr Wood. It found that there was a shortfall of some 2,000 square metres gross floor area in meals-out restaurants and fast food floor space in Tuggeranong. That is the study we have done, Mr Whitecross. A study you yourself commissioned says there is a shortage of space in Tuggeranong. Now, what do you want? It creates jobs. It provides choices for people living in that part of

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