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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (3 December) . . Page.. 4419 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

Where is the evidence of structure reform then? Of course, there is none. I say to members of this place - not that there are many listening to this debate - that this motion really is very silly. It does not have any basis for explaining or understanding what it is that the Opposition are trying to get at. I would say to members of this place: If you want to get better outcomes in terms of planning of the national-local interface, get a different structural arrangement. Support the Chief Minister's announced reforms. Get behind her call on the Federal Government to hand over those areas to the ACT. That would do this community a service. The motion you have moved will not.

MS REILLY (11.45): I have several matters to take up about some of the things that Mr Humphries has said. Like a lot of other Canberrans, when I read in the Canberra Times the other day that Mrs Carnell was making a grab for the hills and ridges - of course, we did not hear about it before that - I was gravely concerned because this Government's record on planning and on its relationship with the Federal Government to get anything that benefits Canberra is appalling. I could add to the things said about that ludicrous futsal slab. We must be the only country in the whole world that has an indoor sport at an outdoor venue. It was put there beside the lake where it destroys the view. Then we have chairs being put up and left there for no purpose. They also then put the public toilets on the main thoroughfare of Canberra. I think this is an indication of the very special relationship between this ACT Government and the Federal Government. The NCA does what it likes. It does not consider Canberra, and this Government does not seem to be able to influence anything it does. The only time we hear about some of the issues is when they have to come out in public, but we have no idea of what secret deals have been going on.

I think Mr Humphries has failed to understand the need for proper, comprehensive and integrated planning in the ACT that responds to the needs of the people of Canberra and benefits Canberra. Quite honestly, Mr Speaker, I am not interested in discussing just the colours of the tables in Civic Square. I would like to have some say in the whole of the development of Civic. I would like to see a strategy to make Civic, the heart of Canberra, something that we can be proud of, rather than a piecemeal, ad hoc, bits and pieces process that is going on at the moment because this Government does not have a clue. They have no idea of how to plan anything. They have no idea of how to plan beyond what they can see with their very narrow tunnel vision. They cannot look at the whole of Canberra and see what is necessary for the ACT to benefit the people who live here now, the people who want to visit here and the people who want to be proud of their national capital.

The Parliamentary Triangle, which is the responsibility of the NCA, is becoming tatty. We have a Federal government that is not interested in looking after its national capital, and we have a local government that does not influence anything that happens in relation to the NCA. It is really unfortunate that we do not have a decent partnership between the Commonwealth and the Territory to ensure that we have a national capital we can be proud of, and a local community that is pleasant and easy for us all to live in.

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