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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 4 Hansard (3 April) . . Page.. 1343 ..
MR WOOD (continuing):
scheduled for October 2003. Construction is planned to commence in November of this year, with completion in January 2005.
MR HARGREAVES: I have a supplementary question. Minister, can you advise the Assembly whether there has been any community consultation regarding the proposed redevelopment of the Griffin Centre?
MR WOOD: There has been pointed comment within the community from time to time. But from start to finish, there has been close communication. There is no question about that. These processes have been run by departmental officers, QIC and community organisations. During 2000, meetings were conducted involving the public and tenants to determine the key uses of the new building. These comments were written up as a comprehensive, functional brief.
Community input was also sought during the Territory Plan variation process, and submissions were considered by the Standing Committee on Planning and the Environment. The variation successfully passed through the Assembly in September last year.
The government is committed to further consultation over the next 12 months, as the detailed design of the new building is being undertaken. So that process continues and will include presentations of the design to facilitate the consultation. It is proposed to be a broad consultation and to include current tenants of the centre, other community groups and representatives of potential users of the facility.
I have had direct advice from representatives of all three key players-the tenants of the Griffin Centre, departmental officers and QIC-that they are all satisfied with the excellent progress they are making on this task.
Treasurer's Advance
MR SMYTH: I hope the Chief Minister listens closely. Mr Cornwell obviously said "close of business yesterday". You must have missed that. Chief Minister, in question time yesterday the Treasurer, in responding to a question relating to the use of the $10 million from the Treasurer's Advance for fire safety matters, made the following statement:
Let me assure you that when we sit in cabinet we have the benefit of the advice of not only the Under Treasurer and officials that handle the budget but also agency heads. Sometimes their collective advice is good enough.
He then clarified that statement in response to the supplementary question by stating:
... I recall that the main advice came from the Under Treasurer at the time, Mr Ronaldson.
Chief Minister, in a letter to the chief executive of the Department of Urban Services of 4 June 2002, the then Under Treasurer, the same Mr Ronaldson, wrote of this matter:
Addressing these matters [the fire safety issues] should be a matter of priority for
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