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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 10 Hansard (14 October) . . Page.. 3128 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

hectares to 9.2 hectares, none of which we heard about from Mr Corbell. That changes substantially what the club is attempting to do. We have never heard about that. We do not hear about that. All we hear about is the reduction from 61 to 59 units. He must give the whole picture if people are to have a balanced view in this place today, and we are not seeing that.

There is a clause in the lease that says that the Government can take some land back, but there are clauses in the Territory Plan and the process that we go through that say that the club can seek to vary their lease. That is their right. That is all they have sought to do. But we do not hear about that as well. Mr Speaker, I think it is curious that we never hear the rest of it.

It is interesting that Mr Moore stands up and speaks. He will be consistent, at least. We know that Mr Moore is strong on these planning issues, but he is consistent on them. What we have from the Labor Party is some sort of planning road to Damascus. Labor, in government, will approve all sorts of things. But if the Liberals want to get on with building up the city, making the city more sustainable, allowing different sorts of housing options, they we will stand in our way. Why? It is because they stand for nothing. All we know about Labor's planning policy is that Mr Corbell wants to create an independent statutory authority to make all these decisions because he, as planning Minister, would not want to.

It is very important that we go through what happened under Labor, Mr Speaker. Mr Osborne said that he did not want to talk about the Murrumbidgee and Harcourt Hill projects. I will not because I think that they are different. But I will talk about three other developments. Specifically, in October 1992 the Labor Government, through Mr Wood, approved the use of the Capital Golf Club's lease for residential development. They allowed 14.3 per cent of that lease to be put aside for this development. In July 1993, Mr Wood approved a similar use for residential development on the Belconnen Golf Club's land. How much? It was for 19.3 per cent of it, almost a fifth, Mr Speaker. In November 1994, Mr Wood referred to an Assembly committee the Yowani Golf Club's desire to redevelop 11 per cent of its site for residential purposes. It is very important that people note those figures - 14.3 per cent for Capital, 19.3 per cent for Belconnen and 11 per cent for Yowani.

Mr Speaker, let us get the facts straight on the Federal golf course. The Federal golf course is an area of 85.9 hectares. How much are they seeking to put into residential development? It is 5.5 per cent, Mr Speaker. That is half of what Labor started the process for on Yowani, because ultimately they lost government and Mr Humphries subsequently approved that one. It is for half of what happened at Yowani. Mr Wood approved a figure of 19 per cent - almost four times - for Belconnen and 14 per cent for the Capital Golf Club, almost three times. I wonder what trip down the planning road to Damascus which Mr Corbell and the Labor Party have travelled which has suddenly made them turn around, because the inconsistency that we hear today is just terrible.

I want to talk about the inconsistencies that Mr Corbell thinks there are with the Territory Plan. (Extension of time granted) The Government, through Planning and Land Management, is quite categorical that this proposal is consistent with the principles of the Territory Plan and stands by its interpretation of the Territory Plan.

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