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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4412 ..

MS McRAE (continuing):

There was no thought that perhaps some of the courtesies that are extended under our planning laws should be extended to the people of Canberra. There was no thought that perhaps some people would like a say in what happens around their lake. There was no thought that all the people of Canberra are active, living participants in this city. They said, "Oh, no. We know best. We will tick it off". Then - shock, horror! - when they could not go ahead, they said, "The nasty, awful NCA and the nasty, awful people of Canberra are bagging us for running with every smart idea that we hear". There was a complete and utter failure to understand the needs of planning, to understand the needs of the people of Canberra and to work in a cooperative way with the national authorities.

We saw the same hiccup with the peace park, followed by the same churlishness that anybody should dare to complain about what the ACT Government wanted to do, as if nobody in the ACT had a right to say what they thought about their own city and their own space. It was the same when Mr Moore raised the use of Lake Burley Griffin for the FAI Rally. There was no debate, no discussion, no involvement with the people of Canberra, no working in partnership with the Federal Government. We are seeing it again with the extension of Ginninderra Drive. The Assembly had its own inquiry into it, and now what do we find out? The Federal authorities are going to conduct their own public inquiry into whether they should delete it from the Territory Plan. This Government has absolutely no capacity to develop a working partnership in the interests of the people of Canberra. It shows a complete lack of responsibility in dealing with planning issues both at the local level and at the national level.

The biggest shock of all to the people of Canberra was waking up one day to the slab of concrete by the side of the lake being blithely opened. There was no consultation with the people of Canberra. It was just ticked off by this Government. There was no thought that perhaps everybody who lives in Canberra actually likes to have a say in what happens in Canberra. There is no working with the Federal authority in a way that says, "Thank you for your appreciation of our push, but maybe we should go through a consultation process. Maybe we should have a joint approach to these things. Maybe we should consider the people who live in the ACT". At this very moment a study into the Northbourne corridor is with the Federal authorities, waiting for their tick or disapproval. Nobody in the ACT knows anything about it. Nobody has been involved in public consultation. There is no capacity for working in an open partnership with the National Capital Authority and, hey presto, something is going to land on us one day - maybe.

The list goes on and on, to use a favourite expression of Mrs Carnell's. The record clearly shows three years of lost opportunities, three years of failure to grasp the fundamental issues. About a year ago we called for some protocols for the management of public consultation on projects on national land that would affect the people of Canberra. The ACT Government has been approached by the National Capital Authority for approval, and we have yet to see anything more than a draft consultation paper. We have yet to see any interest at all from this Liberal Government in coming to grips with consultation protocols and coming to grips with the fundamental issue of how planning should be managed in the ACT.

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