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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 11 Hansard (4 November) . . Page.. 3542 ..

MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, let me start by saying that I have to express considerable admiration for Mr Marsh's determination to keep going. If I had been in his position, I would have given up a long time ago. He is either very determined or very stupid to proceed in the face of the many obstacles which have confronted him. I want to make it clear to Ms Horodny that I have never rejected any of his previous proposals on the basis that I am opposed to the idea of jet skis on ACT waterways; far from it. My view is that it is a form of sport or recreation - I will leave that question to my colleague the Minister for Sport and Recreation - which members of the community enjoy and find of pleasure. We do not have anywhere at all in the ACT, at the moment, where someone can enjoy this particular activity, and we ought to have.

Mr Berry: Well, move the ACT closer to the water.

MR HUMPHRIES: If those senators who wanted it at Bega, or wherever it was, 70 or 80 years ago had got their way, then we might be on the water today; but we are not, of course. The ACT does have reasonably good access to waterways. It has been a matter of some surprise to me that until now we have not been able to find a suitable site. Mr Marsh persists and the Government continues to cooperate with him in seeing whether a suitable site can be found.

Let me make two comments about what Ms Horodny has said about this particular proposal for part of the Molonglo River near Pialligo. First of all, she talks about considerable community opposition. I do not believe I have seen any sign of community opposition to the concept of jet skis in general or to the idea of putting them on that particular site on the Molonglo River.

Ms Horodny: There is not a safe location for them in the ACT; that is the problem.

MR HUMPHRIES: So Ms Horodny says; but I think I have had two letters from people concerned about that particular location. I have had several meetings with the Conservation Council. I do not believe that they raised the issue with me - at least, not to my recollection. The site is certainly less of a problem than other sites. It may or may not be a suitable site, but I am saying it is less of a problem than some other sites. Unlike you, Ms Horodny, I believe that a process ought to be followed. This person has put their money forward - a very large sum of money, I might say - to have an application considered in respect of a sport that they want to get involved with and provide opportunities for ACT residents to get involved with as well. All he asks for is the chance to have his application dealt with pursuant to the legislation which the parliamentarians of this Territory have enacted. That seems to me to be a reasonable request.

I know we have had a tendency in recent days to say, "Forget the Land Act; chuck it out the window. It is not a question of how well you know the Land Act; it is a question of how well you know the 17 members of this Assembly. Come and see us and we will see whether we can smooth a way for you to get an approval through". I express considerable concern about that development. If we believe in the legislative processes we have established, we owe it to applicants in this Territory to let those applications be dealt with in that process. If we do not support, if we do not trust, if we do not believe in those processes, then any one of us who believes that ought to move to amend the Land Act to change those processes.

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