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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 1 Hansard (17 February) . . Page.. 221 ..

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, the current usage on that site, I believe - and I will check this and confirm it for the member - is community use, and therefore it is quite appropriate to move Craft Australia into those buildings. As to amending the heritage citation, I would have to check that and get back to the member.

MR CORBELL: Can the Minister also confirm - perhaps you can take this on notice too - that a request was made by officers of PALM on behalf of artsACT to remove this sentence from the heritage citation specifically for the purposes of allowing Craft ACT to relocate to that building?

MR SMYTH: Again, Mr Speaker, the use is still consistent. I will check what Mr Corbell has asked, but it is quite curious because the Labor Party supported this. We think it is a good idea and we will move ahead with it.

MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, my question is also on the site we are talking about here. I note the desire and good outcome for Craft ACT, at least in the space available since SWOW's move, but I have a further question about process, and that is the concern. Can the Minister confirm that the ACT Heritage Unit provided only a verbal endorsement for the location of a transportable for the use of the Ainslie after-school care program in the grounds of Ainslie Primary School and that this was done with no formal documentation?

MR SMYTH: Again, I will have to check on the advice that Heritage gave about the process and get back to the member.

MR WOOD: I ask a supplementary question. The question was about process. Bear that in mind. I want to know whether what is happening there, and anywhere else, is the normal process and whether what is being applied here is consistent with what any private developer might seek to do.

MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, I am not sure what is being alleged - whether it is being alleged that due process has not been observed. I will certainly check with the department on what has happened here. I think all in this place look forward to appropriate use being made of this site. I think having the arts people there would be absolutely wonderful, and I look forward to the day when that occurs.

MR BERRY: My question is to the Minister for Education, Mr Stefaniak. Minister, the chief executive of the Department of Education and Community Services received a letter from the executive director of the Office of Strategy and Public Administration, dated 31 July 1998, which advised:

At a meeting with the Executive Director of CraftACT on 22 July 1998 the Chief Minister expressed an extremely strong view that CraftACT and a number of other visual arts organisations should relocate to the

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