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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (22 April) . . Page.. 1140 ..

MR HIRD (continuing):

The committee deliberated about the request by the local residents and decided that, while a full-blown inquiry did not appear to be warranted, it would be entirely appropriate for the committee to brief itself fully on the issues. The committee therefore proceeded to ask both the Minister for Urban Services, Mr Brendan Smyth, and the Chief Minister, Mrs Kate Carnell, to make departmental officers available to brief the committee in public, and they did so on two occasions - on 19 February and 16 April this year. The committee expresses its appreciation to the two Ministers for making their officers available.

We also asked representatives of the Kippax Task Force to address the committee in public and they did so on 26 March this year. They told us that they want three blocks in the Kippax Centre, blocks known as 15 and 16 and 53 of section 51, to be identified in the Territory Plan as solely for the use of community purposes. In particular, they hope that this will guarantee the future of the local library.

They noted that the blocks, at present, could be used for a dozen other uses, including commercial premises or even car parks, but what is needed is tenure for community use. They expressed grave concern that blocks 15, 16 and 53, in their terms, might be "flogged off" by a future government. They also expressed concern about another area. They are worried that the existing health and fitness centre on block 51 might run down over time and then its leaseholder might seek to incorporate the block into the adjacent block 50, which permits residential town houses.

As an aside, I should mention that the local residents expressed support for the present refurbishment activities in the Kippax Centre which include the development of a master plan being prepared under the aegis of the Kippax Precinct Community Group. I take the opportunity to commend the Government for its initiatives in refurbishing local centres throughout Canberra, of which Kippax is just one.

At a public hearing, government officers told the committee that they are aware that Kippax Centre contains a number of vacant blocks of land, two of which are blocks 15 and 16. These two blocks do not have leaseholders. The government officers knew of no demand for other commercial space at Kippax Centre. The officers stated that they were not aware of any intention to remove the library or to take any action that would threaten the existing community use of the blocks in question, and that they considered the existing commercial policy to adequately protect the balance of commercial and community uses in the Kippax Centre.

They added that if there ever arose a proposal to change an existing community facility in a commercial centre, the proposal would trigger an automatic requirement for a preliminary assessment. They indicated that the long-term future of the Kippax library depended on usage and government policy, and they stated that they are unaware of any proposal to downgrade the existing facilities.

When sitting down after the three public hearings to consider the information obtained by the committee, members particularly noted the following two points: First, the absence of any indication that these blocks are under any sort of redevelopment pressure for use as a commercial facility; and, second, the fact that, as a result of the consultative process within the Kippax refurbishment program, government officers are now very much aware that the community prefers blocks 15 and 16 to be used for community

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