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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4619 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

The committee recognises that a draft variation to the Territory Plan has to be done and that it will eventually come before our successor committee in the new Assembly. We think that that is entirely appropriate. However, we would be very concerned if consideration of the draft variation was the only occasion for people to comment on the broad range of matters set out in this committee's current terms of reference. We remind members that those terms of reference, which were set by the Assembly, involve considering not just the Maunsell study and the Government's detailed response, but also the full range of transport studies and inquiries that have been done to date, the appropriate place for public transport, the usefulness of strategies to boost local employment in Gungahlin, and the alternative proposals, in the minds of some, for an eastern ring road from Gungahlin.

We do not think that a full airing of these issues will occur in the consideration of a draft variation to the Territory Plan to preserve the Option 3 route reservation and to delete the reservation to the west of the AIS. Therefore, we consider that our successor committee should be allowed to fully examine all these issues and report to the Fourth Assembly before it is asked to consider that draft variation. We note that there is no urgency for this matter to be decided in a hurry. After all, it is not expected that any actual construction will take place on the proposed transport reservation for another 10 years. Given this situation, it is only reasonable that a committee of this Assembly fully examine the whole raft of issues surrounding the proposal for a major new traffic artery in Canberra.

Before concluding this statement on behalf of the committee, I should point out that an early aspect of our inquiry into proposals for the John Dedman Parkway involved the issue of whether Ginninderra Drive should be extended across Southwell Park to Northbourne Avenue and the Government's proposals for traffic lights and other roadworks in the Mouat and Brigalow streets area of Lyneham. In our Report No. 33, dated September 1997, we reported to the Assembly on these issues. Our report was unanimous and, we hope, served to remove some of the uncertainty affecting that particular area.

To sum up, we recognise that it will be a big job for our successor committee to weigh up all the arguments and passions surrounding these issues and the proposed transport reservation. We can only wish the members of our successor committee well in their endeavours. We commend this statement to the Assembly.

MR MOORE: Mr Temporary Deputy Speaker, I ask for leave of the Assembly to make a statement on the work of the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment during the Third Assembly.

Leave granted.

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