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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 11 Hansard (26 September) . . Page.. 3330 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

This minister, in his haste to be seen doing something, has not engaged in analysis, but has lumbered us with an abstract model, the handiwork of a schoolboy socialist. I really fear Canberra could be reaping the whirlwind for many years to come.

Let me run through a brief, though by no means complete, checklist of the unintended consequences of this foolhardy approach.

Mr Corbell: On a point of order, Mr Speaker: Mrs Dunne should know the form for the house. Name calling and referring to members other than by their title is quite inappropriate and out of order. I also find her comments personally insulting, and I ask her to withdraw them.

MRS DUNNE: Mr Speaker, I called the minister the Planning Minister.

Ms Tucker: No, you said schoolboy socialist. That is better than Stalinist. I was a Stalinist the other day.

MRS DUNNE: Yes. I said this Planning Minister produced the work of "a schoolboy socialist". I did not call him a schoolboy socialist. I called him the Planning Minister.

MR SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, please grant us the intelligence to understand that there was a fairly finely honed barb and I think you ought to withdraw it in the interests of the standing of this place.

MRS DUNNE: If you say so, I withdraw.

Let us look at the strategic spatial plan. Draft variation 200 will have a major impact on the strategic spatial plan for Canberra, and this is a compelling reason for deferring and re-releasing it in conjunction with the major exposure draft that we expect to see on the spatial plan.

Draft variation 200 has the widest spatial coverage of any location-specific plan, and important ramifications for the achievement of urban sustainability issues. As in many things, this minister is putting the cart before the horse in wanting to finalise draft variation 200 while still considering the spatial plan.

Those comments could apply equally well to other aspects of the strategic plan, such as the economic white paper and the social plan. I have been quite vocal in my support for a fully integrated strategic plan for Canberra. However, the approach should not be piecemeal, with the partial launch of a new policy here and a draft variation there, which may have major implications for the overall effectiveness of a real strategic plan.

As I have said before, there is a case for allowing the conversion of city suburbs to a much higher density than is at present achieved, with the aim of obtaining urban sustainability. It is a very difficult thing to do, but we have to do it to acquire better public transport and high-quality public transport corridors. However, as a noted transport economist, Peter Moore, said today, to do this we have to exercise the political will to make tough decisions.

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