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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 3545 ..

MR HARGREAVES (continuing):

Mr Pratt talked about the festival and said that 12,000 people attended the last weekend of the festival. I remind Mr Pratt that there was only one weekend of it. If he missed out on things the first weekend, that is because the festival was not on. However, I congratulate the organisers in changing the format to the successful one that it was.

Mr Pratt also said he hoped that the activities which took place at the festival would generate more activities for young people. In answer to that, the activities of the festival were driven by young people this year. They emanated out of the youth centre, which had a sort of facelift a few years ago. It is now a vibrant youth centre-it is great. What goes on at the Tuggeranong Youth Centre is fantastic-music, activities, mentoring programs and the like. That is where a lot of the impetus came from to get that part of the festival going.

A similar sort of activity which shows the community's commitment and what the community can do, in addition to the festival, was the community's need for a youth centre at Lanyon Valley. The community down there decided they wanted it; the community pushed for it, and we brought the case to this Assembly. Mr Stefaniak, who was the minister at the time, concurred with the wishes of the community, saw the need and provided that youth centre.

They continue to say, "We want something!"The community is driving the activities in the Lanyon Valley. They want a skate park. I put the Assembly on notice that I am in support of the bid by the Lanyon Youth Centre and the youth of the Lanyon Valley to have a skateboard park included in the capital works program as soon as possible.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I thank members very much for their good wishes and their congratulations to the festival and its organisers. I invite all of you to come down to the festival next year and enjoy yourselves. With a bit of luck, we will have Men at Work. Then you men and women who work here can go and see the men at work down in Tuggeranong.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

War on Iraq

MS DUNDAS (4.13): I move:

That the Chief Minister write to the Prime Minister informing him that this Assembly:

opposes a war on Iraq as proposed by the US and Britain and opposes any involvement by Australia in such a war; and

affirms the role of the United Nations as the vehicle for seeking a non-violent resolution of the issues.

On behalf of the ACT Democrats, I rise today to oppose any first strike action on Iraq. A first strike or indeed any war on Iraq will create further instability in the region and undermine international law. A first strike will not necessarily remove Saddam Hussein or keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists. There are dangerous and unpredictable consequences for the region and indeed for the world.

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