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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2374 ..
MR WOOD
(continuing):undertaking and we need to be sure that it is financially viable, so a very careful look is being had at it. Glass is a natural for that sort or industrial area, but I think that the time we are taking is justified. It has concerned me. I would like to move quickly, but I do not think that we would do well if we were to do that.
The Kippax library is coming. I happen to think that the site is a good one. I happen to think that there will be plenty of discussion. For heaven's sake, there has been discussion about the Kippax library for years and years. I think that the site is just terrific. It is a nice connector between the two sides of Kippax and I would hope that the community will have a second look at it. Certainly, the Chief Minister, Mr Stanhope, has been quite instrumental in securing that facility for Belconnen, as he has been with respect to arts facilities.
What we are now doing with $60,000 is we are surveying the arts scene in Belconnen, seeing what exists in all of that area, and then we will see what we might do further, what the needs are, and then the third and great stage will be to determine how best to fit in those needs. Mr Stanhope is the person who has been pushing that very strongly.
Ms Tucker talks about the GDE. The GDE was drawn on the plans in the 1960s or thereabouts and I do not think that it is giving due respect to circumstances just to say that we should look at alternative ways. By all means do so, but what are those alternative ways in a city that stretches for over 50 kilometres north to south that was specifically designed for the car?
Ms Tucker would understand that if we were only starting off the city of Canberra today we might have a very different design. If we had that very different design and were much more intensely developed, much more contained, a whole range of other transport options might present themselves, but that was not a decision that was taken then and it is very hard to move away from that.
Mr Speaker, I will not go into every issue of the regurgitation that we have had here tonight, but I do welcome the interest, not just of members of this Assembly but, as reflected to them, of the community at large in the good work that the Department of Urban Services does.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure-part 1.13-ACT Forests, nil expenditure-agreed to.
Proposed expenditure-part 1.14-Disability, Housing and Community Services, $71,429,000 (net cost of outputs), $1,425,000 (capital injection) and $21,668,000 (payments on behalf of the territory), totalling $94,522,000.
MRS BURKE
(10.08): Mr Speaker, at the risk of regurgitating a bit more for the minister, Mr Wood, I will make a few short comments on this. I am sure the minister does not need to hear about the problems and challenges he faces within the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services right now.
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