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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 11 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3161 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

unleased, undeveloped urban land, and visiting sites to determine their relationship with surrounding features and the open space in that area. Blocks of land that are considered essential to our urban open space will then be formally made part of the urban open space network through a draft variation to the Territory Plan.

Minister, to be consistent with this broader view, shouldn't you be doing a review of all unleased land in the Yarralumla area before making any decision on this preschool proposal, rather than treating this block in isolation?

MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, the previous government gave in-principle support for the direct sale of this parcel of land to the St Nicholas School, which operates a preschool facility on the adjacent block. The government has established a mechanism for dealing with land that is currently being considered by Land and Property for direct grant, as part of the open space audit process. I am happy to provide further details to Ms Tucker so that she can understand how the review mechanism operates in relation to those parcels of land that are being specifically considered by Land and Property at this time.

Further, I am currently seeking further advice from Land and Property as to the status of the commitment given by the previous government in relation to the St Nicholas School, and I will be reviewing whether or not it is appropriate to continue with the current process.

MS TUCKER: I think you might have said you were looking into this. Will the government be liable for compensation if it rejects the proposal, and also is the government actually able to consider allowing the preschool some redevelopment other than that within the current block boundary?

MR CORBELL: Mr Speaker, as I just indicated, I am seeking further advice on the status of the commitment made by the previous government, and whether or not the decision has the potential to be reviewed or indeed whether it should be reviewed. I am quite happy to provide further details to the Assembly and Ms Tucker once that advice has been received and considered by me.

Public liability insurance

MR STEFANIAK: My question is to the Treasurer. Mr Quinlan, you wrote a letter to Senator Coonan on 2 July querying the composition of a committee headed by Justice Ipp. The paper reported:

In his July 2 letter, Mr Quinlan questions the independence and expertise of two of the four people appointed to the committee-Don Sheldon, who is chairman of the Council of Practising Specialists, and Ian McIntosh, who is mayor of Bathurst.

"Inclusion in the panel of Dr Sheldon and Mr McIntosh needs to be revisited," Mr Quinlan wrote.

"These nominees clearly represent special interests."

Mr McIntosh is on the committee to ensure that the views of the community are fully taken into account. Do you consider that the special interest that Mr McIntosh has, in your view, represents that of local government? How does the goal of local government

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