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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 3405 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

Mr Stefaniak raised issues about the AIS master plan. He said he disputed our interpretation of the master plan. He did not go on to say why he disputed it. He did not say that the AIS had said that what the Labor Party was saying was incorrect. He just said, "We dispute it." Perhaps he disputed it because it is an inconvenient reality for him in this debate. That reality is that the AIS' own agenda for the land in front of the AIS and on the western side of the AIS is for commercial development, and car parking will be provided through a variety of means which I outlined in my speech earlier this evening.

Let me raise a prospect that members should be completely aware of before we vote tonight. If we vote to endorse the eastern alignment, and if it eventuates that that alignment is built, have no doubt whatsoever that the pressure will be on-maybe not in two years, five years or 10 years-to build the spur. There can be no doubt about that, because people driving along that road will know that just over through that gully, between the two ridges, is Barry Drive, and they will want to get to it, and get to it quickly. The pressure will be on to build that spur.

The government can give no commitment that that will not happen. It is logical that when the road is placed in that position the pressure will come. If the government was serious long term about protecting the integrity of the Bruce/O'Connor Ridge areas, and if any government was serious about doing that and at the same time recognising the need for an arterial road link, the option that would be pursued would be the western alignment, because then the pressure for that spur road would not come. The link would be clear and unambiguous. It would be to Belconnen Way, linking to Caswell Drive and running down to Parkes Way.

Labor will stand by its position. If elected to government it will seek to develop the western alignment, but it will also commit to ensuring that the road is built on time, because it needs to be built on time. Those will be the principles. Those will be the commitments that will guide us.

We do not know what will happen in the next Assembly. We do not know who the crossbench members will be, and we certainly do not know what their position on this issue will be. But Labor is committed to the western alignment, and Labor is committed to the provision of an arterial road link on time. Those are the two issues that will guide us.

Mr Stanhope made the point very eloquently that too often we do not take account of the broader and deeper issues that surround such a debate. Yes, it is about a balance. Yes, it is about deciding between conflicting options. The Labor Party has never suggested that it is a black-and-white argument, but on balance we believe the western alignment is the better one. We stand by that decision. As Mr Stanhope said, we need to think a little with our hearts as well as our heads in making these decisions.

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