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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 5 Hansard (25 August) . . Page.. 1196 ..

The petition read as follows:

To the Speaker and Members of the Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory:

The petition of supporters of the Arts in the Australian Capital Territory, draws to the attention of the Assembly the cut of $1.6 million to the Institute of the Arts, as part of the 1998 budget, which will impact on the delivery of services by the Canberra Schools of Music and Art to the community and will adversely affect the quality of life in Canberra.

Your petitioners therefore request the Assembly to reverse the decision, so that the Institute of Arts can continue to provide a worthwhile resource within Canberra.

Petitions received.

MS CARNELL (Chief Minister and Treasurer): Mr Speaker, I ask for leave of the Assembly to make a statement concerning the Hall/Kinlyside rural residential development.

Leave granted.

MS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, on 3 August 1998 I wrote to all members of the Assembly relating to the Hall/Kinlyside development. I foreshadowed my intention to seek leave on the first day of the August 1998 sittings to make a ministerial statement to the Legislative Assembly on the matter. My purpose in writing to members was to provide an explanation of statements I had made in the Assembly and at the Estimates Committee on the proposed Kinlyside development. In the course of debate I had unintentionally used the words "blocks" and "leases" in such a way as to cause confusion. The fundamental problem in this case is the way in which "block" and "lease" are used interchangeably by many Canberrans, including public servants and politicians, and the failure to identify the technical difference in this case. Members were provided with relevant documentation on 3 August 1998 to assist in clarifying the source of this confusion between "blocks" and "leases". I apologised to members and now also apologise to the Assembly on this matter. The unintentional confusion did not change the substantive matter that led to the Government entering into and later agreeing to terminate the preliminary agreement.

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