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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4730 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

because that is their link with government. There was some discussion about where might be appropriate. The ROCKS area has been subject to lots of discussion over the years. There was a precinct group established in that part of the world that was looking at the ROCKS area as being an area that would have a community focus. It obviously was not appropriate for retail or lots of other sorts of commercial development, so the view was that maybe it was worth having a look at the ROCKS area.

I understand that NDH Management then came forward with a proposal for the development of section 21 to provide facilities to accommodate associations representing Canberra's ethnic communities, all the existing residents on the site, and possibly a building for the Family Planning Association as well. The association has also indicated an interest and has been to see me, and I am sure others, about a new building, taking into account that their current one is not terribly good. The development proposal also contained residential and some commercial components to be constructed after the new community facilities were returned to the community. The idea was that the community facilities would be returned to the community and then NDH would go on and build some student accommodation and some other things.

Mr Speaker, the proposal that was put forward was, I understand, strongly supported by the ethnic communities. We believed it was appropriate for NDH to take their proposal to the residents of the ROCKS area and to other interested parties for community consultation. I think that is a good way to assess community interest in this proposal. I have to say, from what I have seen so far, Mr Speaker, that the residents at the ROCKS and lots of other people are not interested in this proposal. If that ends up being the case, obviously it will not go anywhere.

MS TUCKER: I have a supplementary question. If it does not go anywhere, Mrs Carnell, would you be prepared to open up planning processes in the ACT so that all developers could have an opportunity to put in proposals for these significant sites in the ACT city area?

MRS CARNELL: Absolutely. If this does not go ahead, I think there are a number of other approaches we can take with the ROCKS area. I think we have always accepted and supported the view that the ROCKS area should have a real community focus. It should not be a whole lot of office buildings or a whole lot of residential buildings. It needs to be quite special. It does need to have a very real community feel about it as it links the ANU with Civic.

I have heard Ms Tucker talk before about some form of competition for the site. Obviously, if this does not go ahead, we will be interested in ideas as to what is the appropriate approach, maybe in the next Assembly. When people come forward with proposals, particularly when they are supported by the community, as this one was by the ethnic communities, I think it is always appropriate to allow those people to take their proposals out to the broader community to get a feel for what people think about them.

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