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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 3 Hansard (12 March) . . Page.. 957 ..

Mr Wood: They do not have a library there.

MRS DUNNE: They do not have a library, but the roads and the infrastructure are of much better quality. That is perhaps because a few local members live in the area. Is that what the people of Belconnen need? The Labor members of this place who represent the people of Belconnen are doing them badly.

I commend Ms Dundas's motion to the house, and I congratulate her for moving it.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for the Arts and Heritage and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (4.33): It is our day to be chastised. But there is progress. Everybody seems to be saying that it has taken a fair while to get things going at Kippax. I rather like the shopping centre there. I do not get out there too often. It is about 45 kilometres from where I live, but I do get there occasionally.

I am now committed to getting a new library on that site. I can give you a timetable for that. Look at the budget this year. If there is funding for a Kippax library, the library will be built pretty soon. I am battling for it. But if the budget this year does not have it, the budget in the following year will have it, I would hope.

It is like any other capital works program. You know the story. We put up the options. Not every option gets the nod. There is money for design work. That can be done. As soon as we establish the site, the money for the design work can be spent. The date for construction will be dependent on the budget. Just wait and see on that. I am promoting a few other capital works projects within the government. We will see what gets up and what does not get up.

I think the task force has cut a lot of corners. I think the task force has done a good job in what has been a pretty confused situation at Kippax. Lots of people, quite properly, have had a great deal to say. There has been confusion about the closure of the sports facilities, the future of the library, the health centre and the like.

I have seen the report of the task force. It should be made public very soon. I think their solutions are excellent. By going down that path we have shaved a lot of time from the process. Having come up with what I think are good options, I agree with Mr Corbell absolutely that we do not need to go into a full-scale strategy for Kippax. I think there has been enough discussion on that.

We now need to go back to that community and say to them, "This is what the task force thinks. Have a look at it, think about it and come back and tell us."We can short-circuit the process that Ms Dundas's motion-maybe it will be amended-proposes. I have seen the task force's suggestion, for example, about where the library should go. I think it is a great solution. The members for Ginninderra, I would think, will say, "Why didn't that come up ages ago?"I think the solution will be broadly accepted. It is up to Mr Corbell, who is responsible for the planning process, to release the details of that soon. I will wait for that, but it looks good to me. I would be very happy to build a library in the proposed location.

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