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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3010 ..

MR PRATT (continuing):

park spaces. There is no space east and north-east of Canberra Stadium to create new, cheap, grassland car parks. You do not need to be technically qualified to realise that that space simply does not exist, at least not without encroaching on other facilities in the area or encroaching on green spaces to further expand the car park building.

I do find it entirely unacceptable that the government can simply say that 3,000 of the 5,000 car park spaces will be sufficient to meet requirements. The government's argument is that the other 2,000 car park spaces can go because it reckons that all the needs of Canberra Stadium would be easily met by having 3,000 car park spaces. I would challenge that. I know that thousands of the Raiders and Brumbies fans who go to Canberra Stadium have to park in the Bruce CIT and have to park up to one or two kilometres away in both directions of Canberra Stadium.

We also know that when there are major sporting activities at the AIS whilst there is a major sporting fixture at Canberra Stadium the car park spaces are pushed to the absolute limit. I do question whether the government can simply wave a hand and say that 2,000 car park spaces can be done away with. I would urge the government either to put something in the budget to take care of providing 2,000 new car park spaces or, I would be so bold as to say, to get rid of the western option and not even have the problem in the first place.

That leads me to the next issue in terms of the development of the Gungahlin Drive extension, that is, the disruption to the AIS. We have been over this subject a number of times, but I will state again for the record that I think that acceptance of the western option would be seriously detrimental to the AIS. The AIS is a world-class facility and it deserves the extra little bit of care that an ACT government administration should give to it. Clearly, we have instead the ACT and federal authorities on a collision course over the future of the AIS. I think that everyone in the ACT community is hoping that the government will take care of the AIS very carefully and will factor in the future of the AIS in terms of its Gungahlin Drive extension plans. I wish the government well in seeking to arrive at a sensible solution to that dilemma.

Mr Speaker, in talking about the Gungahlin Drive extension in terms of the sporting facilities in that area, I should raise the issue of the Bruce precinct being a cohabitant and, if you like, collaborative environment in which a number of facilities are combining their sporting, sport science and sport education businesses. My concern is that the western option would drive straight through the middle of that collaborative arrangement. I do not think that that would be good for the future of the Bruce precinct. I would flag that as a concern in terms of budgetary and planning factors as part of the government's approach to these matters.

Finally, I turn to paid parking at Tuggeranong. My colleague Mr Stefaniak has spoken in some detail about that issue, as did Mrs Dunne. I want to focus very quickly on Tuggeranong College. At the moment, it is falling under the spell of the paid parking regime, although I was told by the government in estimates that 30 spaces will be made available to the college for free car parking. I am glad of that, but it would still be insufficient, given the number of year 11 and year 12 students who own cars and the teachers and instructors who work there. Thirty car parking spaces simply would not be enough. I am looking forward to seeing the government rectify that problem as well.

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