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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 5 Hansard (14 May) . . Page.. 1442 ..

MR CORBELL (5.55): Mr Speaker, I want to speak in the adjournment debate this evening in order to raise an issue that has been reported in the Gungahlin Chronicle this week. This article was in response to a press release that I issued earlier this week on behalf of the Labor Party in relation to a position we have chosen to take over the O'Connor and Bruce Ridge areas. We made this very clear statement:

The ALP will not support route proposals for a John Dedman East Parkway which would violate the environmental integrity of the O'Connor and Bruce Ridge areas.

We made the statement very clear because we recognise that several reports, both within the ACT and by the Federal Government, have recommended that this area be given specific legislative protection and that no development, in particular, a John Dedman East road, proceed through it because of its significance, in terms of both the urban area of Canberra, as a background for the Inner North, and also its environmental significance as a regenerated area of dry sclerophyll forest - one of the few remaining areas of dry eucalyptus forest of that type within the Canberra urban area. We made the statement very clear, whilst at the same time recognising that Gungahlin's transport links had to be effective, had to be the best possible, and that all residents should have a chance to contribute in developing that process.

Mr Speaker, I rise this evening because in the article a spokeswoman for the Environment Minister, Mr Humphries, said that I may not be aware of the public consultation that has taken place over John Dedman Parkway and that I was also walking away, she claimed, from Gungahlin residents. I want to put on the record now that I am not walking away from Gungahlin residents.

Mr Berry: You actually live there.

MR CORBELL: In fact, I live there and I drive home there every evening, so I am not going to walk away from a place where I live. What I do want to make sure of is that this Government stops dividing the communities of Gungahlin and the Inner North. At the moment this Government is playing communities off, one against the other. They are playing Gungahlin off against the inner north. They are playing Lyneham, Turner and O'Connor off against Watson, Downer and Hackett. It is a completely unacceptable way to run planning policy, particularly on the very sensitive and very important issue of transport links within the Inner North and transport links to Gungahlin.

I want to make sure that Gungahlin has the best possible transport links. For that reason, my colleague Ms McRae successfully moved a motion in this Assembly which would establish an inquiry by the Assembly's Planning and Environment Committee on the best possible options for John Dedman Parkway and associated transport links in the Inner North, and transport links to Gungahlin. We believe that that is the most appropriate step to take. Instead of playing the game the Government plays, of playing off communities against one another, we want to make sure that all communities have the opportunity to contribute to that debate in a sensible manner, and, more importantly, that all options for John Dedman Parkway and other alternatives are considered.

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