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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (12 March) . . Page.. 956 ..

MRS DUNNE (continuing):

There are a number of issues in relation to Kippax that need to be addressed. They have been touched on by both the previous speakers. It is an area that has suffered from a lack of strategy and commitment from successive governments. While Dunlop is going ahead in leaps and bounds, there are other areas where there is a marked decline. We have seen the successive sagas of the decline of the Latham shops and now the Macgregor shops.

At Kippax there is the farce, as Ms Dundas has rightly pointed out, of a health centre that you cannot get to because the front door faces a truck turning bay. Somebody decided a few years ago that we should try to alleviate the problem of the truck turning bay by shifting it, but they did not bother to consult any of the people who worked in the shops. To my knowledge, about a month ago the truck turning bay, on which construction started in February 2001, was still not complete. It is still not in operation.

Every time I attend a meeting of the West Belconnen LAPAC and something comes up about Kippax-whether we make a modification to the supermarket, whether we do this or whether we do that-the constant cry from the people is: "Where is the Kippax master plan?"It is a really simple task. It does not have to take forever. If the minister is right and a whole lot of work has already been done, that can be fed into it. But the people of Kippax want a say about their supermarkets, the configuration of their shops, how to revitalise their shops, how to provide services to a wide area of people with a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, most of the whom you would consider to be in Labor heartland. But where is Labor today? They are saying, "It is all right. Don't you worry. We are the government and we will look after it all."

We have a derelict health club and the ongoing farce of a library in a demountable building. I too have conducted meetings with constituents in the Kippax library. Luckily, I got a full-sized table, but it was tucked away in a corner. It occupied part of the space normally used to read stories to kids, so that activity was disrupted. The whole place creaks. Every time somebody walks by, the table rocks and the bookshelves rock. This is no future for the people of Belconnen.

Mr Wood should be concerned about the quality, safety and amenity of the Kippax library. I am sick to death of hearing, "You did not do anything, so why should we do it?"

Mr Stefaniak: They were the government that almost closed it.

MRS DUNNE: They were the government that almost closed it. That is right, Mr Stefaniak. Since then very little has been done.

Mr Wood: Did we close it? That is news to me.

MRS DUNNE: Almost closed it. You came to the brink and then you pulled back.

This is no way to build up the social fabric of an area which has many social needs. There are very few community services in Belconnen. I would like to contrast Belconnen with Weston. That is not to say that I begrudge Weston. Over the years Cooleman Court, has gone through a great deal of revitalisation.

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