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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2004 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

Estimates Committee report, there are no sales, Mr Corbell. There is nothing in there that indicates that any of those low-maintenance ovals are in the process of being sold for redevelopment, either commercial or residential.

Mr Corbell: "May be better used for residential or commercial development".

MR STEFANIAK: Why don't you shut up and listen? You might learn something. After complete mismanagement by the previous Labor government, the Follett Labor government-which, in an effort to do a 2 per cent cut to the sports budget in 1993, made 27 ovals around Canberra low maintenance, including 16 near primary schools-this government-

Mr Corbell: "May be better used for residential or commercial development".

MR STEFANIAK: Shut up, will you? Do you want to listen to the answer? Maybe I will just sit down and you can tell us. In the three years that this has been in the ownership agreement between the Treasurer and the chief executive officer, what have we done? We have brought back eight of those ovals around primary schools so that the students can use them to play sport. Another two which I understand were not ever used for sport-one at North Lyneham and one at Isaacs-were transferred in July 1998 to urban parks, open space. Mr Corbell, I am well aware, as you are, that Canberrans love their open space. I am the only member of this Assembly, and have been since it started, who was born here and grew up here. I can certainly appreciate the open space.

I think it was one of the stupidest decisions any government made to make 27 ovals, including 16 near primary schools, low maintenance. Kids need exercise. Kids need their sport. This government's record speaks for itself. Eight of those ovals have been brought back, despite the difficult financial situation we inherited from your incompetence.

Here is some good news for you. As a result of some works being done by my colleague the Minister for Urban Services, the oval at Duffy is being brought back to a reasonable state, and I understand it will be used for cricket next year, so that is one extra. I will tell you one other thing, Mr Corbell. We get a fair bit of wear and tear on our sportsgrounds. More and more people are participating in sport. We have the highest participation rate in the country, something this government is very proud of. I am going to have a look at the remaining seven or eight community ovals and see whether a couple more can be brought back to a decent standard of maintenance so we can also use them for sport. The offer the government made to primary schools, eight of which have taken it up, in terms of low-maintenance ovals near them remains on the table, and as far as I am concerned that remains on the table for the term of this government.

I am interested that you are trying to make such a thing of this, Mr Corbell, because you stuffed up in the first place. Is it the case, maybe, that a future Labor government is going to try to flog these off? Our record speaks for itself, Mr Corbell. In the three years that document has been there, we have been doing something to bring ovals back so kids can play on them.

You do not like the words in that ownership agreement? Fine. I am not terribly keen on them either. I think my colleague the Treasurer is going to bring that up very soon, changing the words in that agreement to something that hopefully even you, Mr Corbell,

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