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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 7 Hansard (25 June) . . Page.. 2128 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

It does make for much easier budgeting if you do not have to worry about reorganising your resources. The other reason is that as yet we do not have the outcomes for the end of the financial year to measure against the budget. Of course, it makes it a lot easier to take at face value what is given to you, because you do not know whether what was done last year has been achieved, you do not know whether it came in on budget, you do not know whether it came within the priority areas that were done, and you have no way of measuring how it matches the overall objectives of government. So, I give you a warning, Mr Humphries: Enjoy this slight bit of pleasantness in regard to the budget now. When the annual reports are out and we do marry the two, a lot of the concerns which were perhaps hinted at or which we tried to tease out will either be verifiable or perhaps be just storms in a teacup.

It is very strange to be running an estimates process with one hand tied behind our back. The criticisms of this particular area relate to the overall thinking about the future of Canberra and the management of land and planning for the better good of all of Canberra, not just for commercial activity. It was very deliberately written into the Territory Plan that it was there for the good of all people in a whole range of activities; for people to live, work, and have their recreation in Canberra. It would be a very sad day if planning and land management was focused solely on business needs in the ACT.

The criticisms are that in the rush to tidy up Civic - surprise, surprise; two very important members of the Government happen to have their seats in Molonglo - we seem to have forgotten the needs of other town centres, and that the focus of the Planning and Land Management Group is very much on the practicalities of their day-to-day work, which, of course, is understandable because they have been through such major changes. I think for next year's budget some better thought might be given to the bigger picture. Give us some faith that perhaps this Government has a bit more interest in the whole of Canberra, not just a few pet projects that happened to be worked on at a particular time.

MR WOOD (5.46): Mr Speaker, I want to raise the question of petrol prices. Mr Humphries might jump to his feet rapidly, as he is wont to do, and say that this is not the time to discuss it; but, of course, it is, because this also relates to planning and where you put things. I want to agree with Mr Humphries that Woolworths, if they come in here, should go through the whole process. They simply cannot assume, because there is a spot next to a supermarket somewhere, that that automatically is going to be a site on which to sell petrol. I think there is a long path yet ahead for that. I had thought, when we heard that Woolworths may come to town, that they might pick up some of the unused petrol stations around the town. Perhaps their links with some of the companies are sufficiently good for them to do that. On the other hand, it may be that competition is strong and that the companies that have those unused leases would not let what they see as a competitor come in.

I particularly want to complain about the slow pace that the Minister has adopted. In fact, he stopped altogether on the former Government's proposals to make more sites available to independent operators. I can recall, two or three years ago, probably, Mr Humphries sitting on this side of the chamber and being very critical of the then Labor Government for bringing Burmah into Wentworth Avenue and for releasing other sites in

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