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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 12 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 3734 ..

MR SMYTH (continuing):

you are out there stirring the pot, if you are out there telling people half the story or if you are out there misrepresenting things then of course people will get worried and panicked by what is going on.

Planning is very important to this city. This government believes that you have to have an integrated approach. What you have to do is make sure that you get the economics right. We have done that. We have now got the territory in the black for the first time, unlike those opposite who were not able to balance the books through their land sales. All they did was drive down the price of housing in the ACT.

We believe that environmentally you must get it right. That is why we are the only jurisdiction that has its endangered species action plans completed, in place and now under review. There are 24 of those and they are working. This government believes that, in the interests of environmental sustainability, things like the new town centre of Jerrabomberra should not go ahead. We now know enough about that area to say that it cannot go ahead. This is the process that we use.

The committee has the right to hold a public meeting and inquire into this matter if it wishes to do so, and I would welcome that. I will offer to make my officers available to give the committee a briefing. As soon as the public consultation report is completed, I will get the chair of the committee a copy of that report.

Those opposite use planning in a curious way. Firstly, they use it to denigrate the work done by Mr Wood, which I find quite curious. I will either wait for Mr Wood's apology for the things he has got wrong or perhaps Mr Corbell would like to expand on those areas where Labor did get it wrong when they were previously in office, as he often now says.

This government will continue planning a sustainable city into the future. What we have from those opposite is lip service. What we have from both the Labor Party and from the Greens is: "Yes, we are in favour of urban infill; yes, we are in favour of greater densities to stop urban sprawl, but we will not tell you which bits or where; and everything that the government does is seemingly wrong."

It is curious that some of things that we are carrying out are on sites that Labor put in place.

Mr Corbell: You protest too much, minister.

MR SMYTH: I note Mr Corbell's comments. We sit there with our little smirk. It is Mr Corbell's credibility that is in question because every time he puts out something and tries to misrepresent what the government is doing, it is Mr Corbell who ultimately ends up being caught out.

Mr Speaker, if the committee wants to undertake this inquiry, that is fine. We will assist the committee, as we always do. As soon as the consultation is finished I will get them that report. I look forward to being able to progress with this development, which will assist in making Canberra a sustainable city into the long term. I look forward to it going ahead.

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