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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 5 Hansard (6 May) . . Page.. 1540 ..

MR RUGENDYKE (continuing):

that it was a fluke, or simply that it was a case of John Howard or Peter Costello waking up one morning and saying, "How about we throw some extra money at Canberra?". I do not think so. Their decision was based upon the case that was put to them. I applaud the efforts from the Economic Management Branch of OFM, which gave the Territory such a strong case.

On the whole, we have extremely good personnel in our Public Service, but more often than not they go about their business without much fanfare and without receiving much gratitude. This is one case where I certainly believe our public servants deserve a wrap. The benefits are there for all to see, with the extra funding which is locked in for the next five years. I would personally like to acknowledge Under Treasurer Mick Lilley and those under his guidance - his directors John Robertson and Gary Dawson and the staff in Roger Broughton, John Purcell, Hugo Harmstorf, Andrew Philip, Shane Radnell, Graeme Dowell and Megan Smithies. (Quorum formed) I encourage them to maintain this dedication to ensure that we get an even better result the next time Commonwealth funding is reviewed.

On budget morning I opened the paper and turned on the radio to learn that the Government had decided to go ahead with the Belconnen pool. Yes, the Belconnen pool, the pool which is a lot like the Loch Ness monster. We have heard a lot about it, but we do not know whether anyone will ever see it.

Ms Carnell: They will see it. Will anyone swim in it? That is the question.

MR RUGENDYKE: We hope so. The Belconnen pool is a good example of one of the weaknesses of the Government. They may be able to get from A to B, but the processes they employ to get there are sometimes left wanting. The Belconnen pool is a case in point. This whole proposal has been handled poorly, and of course the Government has lost credibility in the electorate of Ginninderra. I must point out that the Government has not reached point B yet with the Belconnen pool, and we are not sure whether they will get there. There is still a chance that this proposal could fall over.

Mr Smyth: No, it will not.

MR RUGENDYKE: That is good to hear. The crux of the problem with the Belconnen pool proposal is that the Government rushed the plans to accommodate an unabashed stunt to woo votes in the last election campaign. As we all know, it was a great stunt which saw Mr Stefaniak parade himself in front of the cameras, turning sods on a site in Belconnen to create an image that the Liberal Party was going to do something for the Belconnen community. Since that time it has been a badly kept secret that there is a level of regret in the Government that this promise was made.

The Government would have been happy to wriggle out of its pledge, but the decision to give it the green light was due in no small part to the embarrassing situation highlighted by the rest of the Assembly and particularly the crossbenchers. The result is that the Government has managed to upset just about everyone in Belconnen because of the way it went about putting this together for the sake of some good pre-election publicity.

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