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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2098 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

Times of 25 June, they have done that and they are proposing to take an alternative course of action. They have written to some members of the Assembly, perhaps all of us, and they have spelled out in some detail what they are proposing to do.

What they are proposing to do, they acknowledge, is not the optimal-not for them and, I suggest, not for the community. They propose to develop as a matter of right within their existing lease. That is their right and their entitlement, and I cannot argue about that, but I think we should look at that and ask ourselves: is it the best thing for the club; is it the best thing for the community? If we did that, we would have to answer no. What they will do, in my view, will probably lead to some bad planning decisions. It will certainly lead to a loss of any betterment revenue to the territory, and I think it might result in an outcome that the people of Hughes and the surrounding areas adjacent to the club will take exception to.

I do not think we should allow that to occur. We should be taking some positive action to make sure we get a better outcome than that. The solution seems to lie with the government bringing back the variation we rejected last year. They are entitled to do that under the standing orders of the Assembly. It is a new calendar year. Further debate on that variation will lead to a better outcome than the one the club is now proposing. They themselves acknowledge that this is not optimal for them. We would be remiss if we allowed it to pass without further debate. I want to suggest to the minister and to the government that they might consider bringing back the variation we rejected last year, so that we can have another look at it in light of the perhaps undesirable alternatives the club might be forced to resort to.

MR QUINLAN (10.31): I would like to record my congratulations to the Canberra Labor Club on the opening of the Canberra Labor Club Community Chambers yesterday, a facility that is being provided by that club either rent free or at low rent to community organisations in keeping with the spirit that has always been part of the Canberra Labor Club and its connection to the community.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

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