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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 8 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2577 ..

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, on the point of order: Do I take it, then, that the other interpretation that could be drawn from it was spot on?

MR SPEAKER: No; you can interpret it as you wish. I am simply ruling that there is no point of order.

MR KAINE: It is clear, and has been for a long time, that Curtin is one of the suburban shopping centres to be upgraded; and it is the next cab off the rank. The precinct committee will be established before this year is out. Mr Keith Cramp, who was colluding with Ms Reilly on this cheap stunt, knows that I spent a lot of time in the shopping centre with him only a matter of weeks ago. I examined the site with him; we went from one end of it to the other. I agreed with him that it needed to be upgraded, and I informed him that it was the next cab off the rank. Approximately two weeks later he appeared on the front page of the Valley View or the Chronicle - I forget which - with Ms Reilly, complaining that he had had no response from the Government. I do not know what you call that. The least that you could say is that it is a misrepresentation. He had a response not only from the Government but also from the Minister personally. I told him what the program was. He knows it and, quite frankly, I believe Ms Reilly knows it, too.

To come in here and, first of all, to say that Curtin has been ignored is not the truth; and, secondly, to say that somehow it should take precedence and jump other shopping centres where upgrading is already taking place on some basis that it is worse off than any other, of course, is again untrue. There are other shopping centres that are worse off than Curtin, and that is why they took precedence in the upgrading program. But Curtin is being addressed, will be addressed and will be addressed within the next year. As I say, Mr Cramp knows it, and I am certain that Ms Reilly knows it. To put it to a committee is in no way going to convince the Government to jump Curtin over other shopping centres that require upgrading more urgently than Curtin does. This is not going to achieve anything. The committee can do what it likes and can come back to me with any recommendations it wants, but we cannot bring it forward in the program because it is imminent anyway. I do not know what Ms Reilly expects to achieve from this. I suppose she already has a media release out attacking the Government for taking no action, when she knows that the Government is taking action and that action is imminent.

Mr Speaker, I refute any assertion that the Government has ignored Curtin. That is not the case. I refute the assertion that Curtin is somehow not taking its proper priority in the scheme of things. That is untrue. Work will be undertaken in conjunction with a precinct committee, as has already happened in a number of other shopping centres around Canberra and will happen to a number of others in the future once we have Curtin under control. I repeat: I do not know quite what Ms Reilly expects to achieve, except perhaps another headline based on an untruth.

MR MOORE (10.46): Mr Speaker, I think our committee will need time to talk about this; so, I move:

That the debate be adjourned.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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